Polypeptides having Beta-Glucosidase activity and polynucleotides encoding same

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity and isolated polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides. The invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides as well as methods for producing and using the polypeptides.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. Application No. 13/328,893, filed Dec. 16, 2011, which is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/997,625, filed Feb. 1, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,097,772, which is a 35 U.S.C. 371 national application of PCT/US2006/030719 filed on Aug. 4, 2006 and claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/705,607 filed on Aug. 4, 2005, which applications are fully incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity and isolated polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides. The invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides as well as methods for producing and using the polypeptides.

2. Description of the Related Art

Cellulose is a polymer of the simple sugar glucose covalently bonded by beta-1,4-linkages. Many microorganisms produce enzymes that hydrolyze beta-linked glucans. These enzymes include endoglucanases, cellobiohydrolases, and beta-glucosidases. Endoglucanases digest the cellulose polymer at random locations, opening it to attack by cellobiohydrolases. Cellobiohydrolases sequentially release molecules of cellobiose from the ends of the cellulose polymer. Cellobiose is a water-soluble beta-1,4-linked dimer of glucose. Beta-glucosidases hydrolyze cellobiose to glucose.

The conversion of cellulosic feedstocks into ethanol has the advantages of the ready availability of large amounts of feedstock, the desirability of avoiding burning or land filling the materials, and the cleanliness of the ethanol fuel. Wood, agricultural residues, herbaceous crops, and municipal solid wastes have been considered as feedstocks for ethanol production. These materials primarily consist of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Once the cellulose is converted to glucose, the glucose is easily fermented by yeast into ethanol. Since glucose is readily fermented to ethanol by a variety of yeasts while cellobiose is not, any cellobiose remaining at the end of the hydrolysis represents a loss of yield of ethanol. More importantly, cellobiose is a potent inhibitor of endoglucanases and cellobiohydrolases. The accumulation of cellobiose during hydrolysis is undesirable for ethanol production.

Cellobiose accumulation has been a major problem in enzymatic hydrolysis because cellulase-producing microorganisms may produce little beta-glucosidase. The low amount of beta-glucosidase results in a shortage of capacity to hydrolyze the cellobiose to glucose. Several approaches have been used to increase the amount of beta-glucosidase in cellulose conversion to glucose.

One approach is to produce beta-glucosidase using microorganisms that produce little cellulase, and add the beta-glucosidase exogenously to endoglucanase and cellobiohydrolase to enhance the hydrolysis. However, the quantities required are too costly for a commercial biomass to ethanol operation.

A second approach is to carry out cellulose hydrolysis simultaneously with fermentation of the glucose by yeast. This process is known as simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). In an SSF system, fermentation of the glucose removes it from solution. However, SSF systems are not yet commercially viable because the operating temperature for yeast of 28° C. is too low for the 50° C. conditions required.

A third approach to overcome the shortage of beta-glucosidase is to overexpress the beta-glucosidase in a host, thereby increasing the yield of beta-glucosidase.

It would be an advantage in the art to provide new beta-glucosidases with improved properties for converting cellulosic materials to monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides.

It is an object of the present invention to provide new polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity and polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity selected from the group consisting of:

(a) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which has at least 70% identity with the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2;

(b) a polypeptide which is encoded by a polynucleotide which hybridizes under at least medium stringency conditions with (i) the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, (ii) the cDNA sequence contained in the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or (iii) a complementary strand of (i) or (ii);

(c) a polypeptide comprising A-E-[ST][IV][KR]G-[IM]-Q-[DS]-[ST]-G-V-[IV]-A; and

(d) a variant comprising a conservative substitution, deletion, and/or insertion of one or more amino acids of the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2.

The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides encoding polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity, selected from the group consisting of:

(a) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which has at least 70% identity with the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2;

(b) a polynucleotide having at least 70% identity with the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1; and

(c) a polynucleotide which hybridizes under at least medium stringency conditions with (i) the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, (ii) the cDNA sequence contained in the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or (iii) a complementary strand of (i) or (ii); and

(d) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity, wherein the polypeptide comprises A-E-[ST][IV]-[KR]-G-[IM]-Q-[DS]-[ST]-G-V-[IV]-A.

In a preferred aspect, the mature polypeptide is amino acids 37 to 878 of SEQ ID NO: 2. In another preferred aspect, the mature polypeptide coding sequence is nucleotides 171 to 2753 of SEQ ID NO: 1.

The present invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, recombinant expression vectors, recombinant host cells comprising the polynucleotides, and methods of producing the polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity.

The present invention also relates to a plants comprising the isolated polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity.

The present invention also relates to methods for using the polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity in the conversion of cellulosic material to glucose or other substances.

The present invention also relates to detergent compositions comprising polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity.

The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides encoding a signal peptide comprising or consisting of amino acids 1 to 19 of SEQ ID NO: 2, to isolated polynucleotides encoding a propeptide comprising or consisting of amino acids 20 to 36 of SEQ ID NO: 2, and to isolated polynucleotides encoding a prepropeptide comprising or consisting of amino acids 1 to 36 of SEQ ID NO: 2.

The present invention further relates to nucleic acid constructs comprising a gene encoding a protein, wherein the gene is operably linked to one or both of a first nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide comprising or consisting of amino acids 1 to 19 of SEQ ID NO: 2 and a second nucleotide sequence encoding a propeptide comprising or consisting of amino acids 20 to 36 of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein the gene is foreign to the first and second nucleotide sequences.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIGS. 1A and 1B show the genomic DNA sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence of a Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 beta-glucosidase (SEQ ID NOs: 1 and 2, respectively).

FIG. 2 shows a restriction map of pCR2.1GH3A.

FIG. 3 shows a restriction map of pKKAB.

FIG. 4 shows a restriction map of pKBK01.

FIG. 5 shows the relative activity of the Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 beta-glucosidase at different pH values as a function of temperature.

FIG. 6 shows the relative activity of the Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 beta-glucosidase at different temperatures as a function of pH.

FIG. 7 shows the residual activity of Novozym 188 after 24 hours of incubation at different temperatures and pHs.

FIG. 8 shows the residual activity of the Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 beta-glucosidase after 24 hours of incubation at different temperatures and pHs.

FIG. 9 shows the initial reaction rate at different 4-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranose concentrations for the Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 beta-glucosidase.

FIG. 10 shows the initial reaction rate at different cellobiose concentrations for the Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 beta-glucosidase.

DEFINITIONS

Beta-Glucosidase Activity:

The term “beta-glucosidase” is defined herein as a beta-D-glucoside glucohydrolase (E.C. 3.2.1.21) which catalyzes the hydrolysis of terminal non-reducing beta-D-glucose residues with the release of beta-D-glucose. Cellobiase is synonymous with beta-glucosidase. For purposes of the present invention, beta-glucosidase activity is determined at 25° C. using 1 mM 4-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside as substrate in 50 mM sodium citrate pH 4.8. One unit of beta-glucosidase activity is defined as 1.0 μmole of 4-nitrophenol produced per minute at 25° C., pH 4.8.

The polypeptides of the present invention have at least 20%, preferably at least 40%, more preferably at least 50%, more preferably at least 60%, more preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 80%, even more preferably at least 90%, most preferably at least 95%, and even most preferably at least 100% of the beta-glucosidase activity of the polypeptide consisting of the amino acid sequence shown as amino acids 37 to 878 of SEQ ID NO: 2.

Family 3 Glycoside Hydrolase or Family GH3:

The term “Family 3 glycoside hydrolase” or “Family GH3” or “Cel3” is defined herein as a polypeptide falling into the glycoside hydrolase Family 3 according to Henrissat B., 1991, A classification of glycosyl hydrolases based on amino-acid sequence similarities, Biochem. J. 280: 309-316, and Henrissat and Bairoch, 1996, Updating the sequence-based classification of glycosyl hydrolases, Biochem. J. 316: 695-696.

Isolated Polypeptide:

The term “isolated polypeptide” as used herein refers to a polypeptide which is at least 20% pure, preferably at least 40% pure, more preferably at least 60% pure, even more preferably at least 80% pure, most preferably at least 90% pure, and even most preferably at least 95% pure, as determined by SDS-PAGE.

Substantially Pure Polypeptide:

The term “substantially pure polypeptide” denotes herein a polypeptide preparation which contains at most 10%, preferably at most 8%, more preferably at most 6%, more preferably at most 5%, more preferably at most 4%, more preferably at most 3%, even more preferably at most 2%, most preferably at most 1%, and even most preferably at most 0.5% by weight of other polypeptide material with which it is natively or recombinantly associated. It is, therefore, preferred that the substantially pure polypeptide is at least 92% pure, preferably at least 94% pure, more preferably at least 95% pure, more preferably at least 96% pure, more preferably at least 96% pure, more preferably at least 97% pure, more preferably at least 98% pure, even more preferably at least 99%, most preferably at least 99.5% pure, and even most preferably 100% pure by weight of the total polypeptide material present in the preparation.

The polypeptides of the present invention are preferably in a substantially pure form. In particular, it is preferred that the polypeptides are in “essentially pure form”, i.e., that the polypeptide preparation is essentially free of other polypeptide material with which it is natively or recombinantly associated. This can be accomplished, for example, by preparing the polypeptide by means of well-known recombinant methods or by classical purification methods.

Herein, the term “substantially pure polypeptide” is synonymous with the terms “isolated polypeptide” and “polypeptide in isolated form.”

Mature Polypeptide:

The term “mature polypeptide” is defined herein as a polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity that is in its final form following translation and any post-translational modifications, such as N-terminal processing, C-terminal truncation, glycosylation, phosphorylation, etc.

Mature Polypeptide Coding Sequence:

The term “mature polypeptide coding sequence” is defined herein as a nucleotide sequence that encodes a mature polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity.

Identity:

The relatedness between two amino acid sequences or between two nucleotide sequences is described by the parameter “identity”.

For purposes of the present invention, the degree of identity between two amino acid sequences is determined with the FASTA program package, version 3.4 (Pearson and D. J. Lipman, 1988, PNAS 85:2444, and Pearson, 1990, Methods in Enzymology 183:63) using default parameters. The pairwise alignments from the package's Smith-Waterman algorithm (Waterman et al., 1976, Adv. Math. 20: 367) were used for determination of percent identity. Default parameters included a gap open penalty of −12, a gap extension penalty of −2, and the BLOSUM50 comparison matrix.

For purposes of the present invention, the degree of identity between two nucleotide sequences is determined by the Wilbur-Lipman method (Wilbur and Lipman, 1983, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 80: 726-730) using the LASERGENE™ MEGALIGN™ software (DNASTAR, Inc., Madison, Wis.) with an identity table and the following multiple alignment parameters: Gap penalty of 10 and gap length penalty of 10. Pairwise alignment parameters are Ktuple=3, gap penalty=3, and windows=20.

Polypeptide Fragment:

The term “polypeptide fragment” is defined herein as a polypeptide having one or more amino acids deleted from the amino and/or carboxyl terminus of the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2 or a homologous sequence thereof, wherein the fragment has beta-glucosidase activity. Preferably, a fragment contains at least 720 amino acid residues, more preferably at least 760 amino acid residues, and most preferably at least 800 amino acid residues.

Subsequence:

The term “subsequence” is defined herein as a nucleotide sequence having one or more nucleotides deleted from the 5′ and/or 3′ end of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a homologous sequence thereof, wherein the subsequence encodes a polypeptide fragment having beta-glucosidase activity. Preferably, a subsequence contains at least 2160 nucleotides, more preferably at least 2280 nucleotides, and most preferably at least 2400 nucleotides.

Allelic Variant:

The term “allelic variant” denotes herein any of two or more alternative forms of a gene occupying the same chromosomal locus. Allelic variation arises naturally through mutation, and may result in polymorphism within populations. Gene mutations can be silent (no change in the encoded polypeptide) or may encode polypeptides having altered amino acid sequences. An allelic variant of a polypeptide is a polypeptide encoded by an allelic variant of a gene.

Isolated Polynucleotide:

The term “isolated polynucleotide” as used herein refers to a polynucleotide which is at least 20% pure, preferably at least 40% pure, more preferably at least 60% pure, even more preferably at least 80% pure, most preferably at least 90% pure, and even most preferably at least 95% pure, as determined by agarose electrophoresis.

Substantially Pure Polynucleotide:

The term “substantially pure polynucleotide” as used herein refers to a polynucleotide preparation free of other extraneous or unwanted nucleotides and in a form suitable for use within genetically engineered protein production systems. Thus, a substantially pure polynucleotide contains at most 10%, preferably at most 8%, more preferably at most 6%, more preferably at most 5%, more preferably at most 4%, more preferably at most 3%, even more preferably at most 2%, most preferably at most 1%, and even most preferably at most 0.5% by weight of other polynucleotide material with which it is natively or recombinantly associated. A substantially pure polynucleotide may, however, include naturally occurring 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions, such as promoters and terminators. It is preferred that the substantially pure polynucleotide is at least 90% pure, preferably at least 92% pure, more preferably at least 94% pure, more preferably at least 95% pure, more preferably at least 96% pure, more preferably at least 97% pure, even more preferably at least 98% pure, most preferably at least 99%, and even most preferably at least 99.5% pure by weight. The polynucleotides of the present invention are preferably in a substantially pure form. In particular, it is preferred that the polynucleotides disclosed herein are in “essentially pure form”, i.e., that the polynucleotide preparation is essentially free of other polynucleotide material with which it is natively or recombinantly associated. Herein, the term “substantially pure polynucleotide” is synonymous with the terms “isolated polynucleotide” and “polynucleotide in isolated form.” The polynucleotides may be of genomic, cDNA, RNA, semisynthetic, synthetic origin, or any combinations thereof.

cDNA:

The term “cDNA” is defined herein as a DNA molecule which can be prepared by reverse transcription from a mature, spliced, mRNA molecule obtained from a eukaryotic cell. cDNA lacks intron sequences that are usually present in the corresponding genomic DNA. The initial, primary RNA transcript is a precursor to mRNA which is processed through a series of steps before appearing as mature spliced mRNA. These steps include the removal of intron sequences by a process called splicing. cDNA derived from mRNA lacks, therefore, any intron sequences.

Nucleic Acid Construct:

The term “nucleic acid construct” as used herein refers to a nucleic acid molecule, either single- or double-stranded, which is isolated from a naturally occurring gene or which is modified to contain segments of nucleic acids in a manner that would not otherwise exist in nature. The term nucleic acid construct is synonymous with the term “expression cassette” when the nucleic acid construct contains the control sequences required for expression of a coding sequence of the present invention.

Control Sequence:

The term “control sequences” is defined herein to include all components, which are necessary or advantageous for the expression of a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of the present invention. Each control sequence may be native or foreign to the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide or native or foreign to each other. Such control sequences include, but are not limited to, a leader, polyadenylation sequence, propeptide sequence, promoter, signal peptide sequence, and transcription terminator. At a minimum, the control sequences include a promoter, and transcriptional and translational stop signals. The control sequences may be provided with linkers for the purpose of introducing specific restriction sites facilitating ligation of the control sequences with the coding region of the nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide.

Operably Linked:

The term “operably linked” denotes herein a configuration in which a control sequence is placed at an appropriate position relative to the coding sequence of the polynucleotide sequence such that the control sequence directs the expression of the coding sequence of a polypeptide.

Coding Sequence:

When used herein the term “coding sequence” means a nucleotide sequence, which directly specifies the amino acid sequence of its protein product. The boundaries of the coding sequence are generally determined by an open reading frame, which usually begins with the ATG start codon or alternative start codons such as GTG and TTG and ends with a stop codon such as TAA, TAG, and TGA. The coding sequence may be a DNA, cDNA, or recombinant nucleotide sequence.

Expression:

The term “expression” includes any step involved in the production of the polypeptide including, but not limited to, transcription, post-transcriptional modification, translation, post-translational modification, and secretion.

Expression Vector:

The term “expression vector” is defined herein as a linear or circular DNA molecule that comprises a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of the invention, and which is operably linked to additional nucleotides that provide for its expression.

Host Cell:

The term “host cell”, as used herein, includes any cell type which is susceptible to transformation, transfection, transduction, and the like with a nucleic acid construct or expression vector comprising a polynucleotide of the present invention.

Modification:

The term “modification” means herein any chemical modification of the polypeptide consisting of the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2; or a homologous sequence thereof; as well as genetic manipulation of the DNA encoding such a polypeptide. The modification can be substitutions, deletions and/or insertions of one or more amino acids as well as replacements of one or more amino acid side chains.

Artificial Variant:

When used herein, the term “artificial variant” means a polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity produced by an organism expressing a modified nucleotide sequence of the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1; or a homologous sequence thereof. The modified nucleotide sequence is obtained through human intervention by modification of the nucleotide sequence disclosed in SEQ ID NO: 1; or a homologous sequence thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Polypeptides Having Beta-Glucosidase Activity

In a first aspect, the present invention relates to isolated polypeptides comprising an amino acid sequence which has a degree of identity to the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2 of at least 60%, preferably at least 65%, more preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 75%, more preferably at least 80%, more preferably at least 85%, even more preferably at least 90%, most preferably at least 95%, and even most preferably at least 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99%, which have beta-glucosidase activity (hereinafter “homologous polypeptides”). In a preferred aspect, the homologous polypeptides have an amino acid sequence which differs by ten amino acids, preferably by five amino acids, more preferably by four amino acids, even more preferably by three amino acids, most preferably by two amino acids, and even most preferably by one amino acid from the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2.

A polypeptide of the present invention preferably comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or an allelic variant thereof; or a fragment thereof that has beta-glucosidase activity. In a preferred aspect, a polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide comprises the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide comprises amino acids 37 to 878 of SEQ ID NO: 2, or an allelic variant thereof; or a fragment thereof that has beta-glucosidase activity. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide comprises amino acids 37 to 878 of SEQ ID NO: 2. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide consists of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or an allelic variant thereof; or a fragment thereof that has beta-glucosidase activity. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide consists of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide consists of the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide consists of amino acids 37 to 878 of SEQ ID NO: 2 or an allelic variant thereof; or a fragment thereof that has beta-glucosidase activity. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide consists of amino acids 37 to 878 of SEQ ID NO: 2.

In a second aspect, the present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity which are encoded by polynucleotides which hybridize under at least very low stringency conditions, preferably at least low stringency conditions, more preferably at least medium stringency conditions, more preferably at least medium-high stringency conditions, even more preferably at least high stringency conditions, and most preferably at least very high stringency conditions with (i) the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, (ii) the cDNA sequence contained in the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, (iii) a subsequence of (i) or (ii), or (iv) a complementary strand of (i), (ii), or (iii) (J. Sambrook, E. F. Fritsch, and T. Maniatis, 1989, Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, 2d edition, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.). A subsequence of the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 contains at least 100 contiguous nucleotides or preferably at least 200 contiguous nucleotides. Moreover, the subsequence may encode a polypeptide fragment which has beta-glucosidase activity. In a preferred aspect, the mature polypeptide coding sequence is nucleotides 171 to 2753 of SEQ ID NO: 1.

The nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a subsequence thereof, as well as the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or a fragment thereof, may be used to design a nucleic acid probe to identify and clone DNA encoding polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity from strains of different genera or species according to methods well known in the art. In particular, such probes can be used for hybridization with the genomic or cDNA of the genus or species of interest, following standard Southern blotting procedures, in order to identify and isolate the corresponding gene therein. Such probes can be considerably shorter than the entire sequence, but should be at least 14, preferably at least 25, more preferably at least 35, and most preferably at least 70 nucleotides in length. It is, however, preferred that the nucleic acid probe is at least 100 nucleotides in length. For example, the nucleic acid probe may be at least 200 nucleotides, preferably at least 300 nucleotides, more preferably at least 400 nucleotides, or most preferably at least 500 nucleotides in length. Even longer probes may be used, e.g., nucleic acid probes which are at least 600 nucleotides, at least preferably at least 700 nucleotides, more preferably at least 800 nucleotides, or most preferably at least 900 nucleotides in length. Both DNA and RNA probes can be used. The probes are typically labeled for detecting the corresponding gene (for example, with ³²P, ³H, ³⁵S, biotin, or avidin). Such probes are encompassed by the present invention.

A genomic DNA or cDNA library prepared from such other organisms may, therefore, be screened for DNA which hybridizes with the probes described above and which encodes a polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity. Genomic or other DNA from such other organisms may be separated by agarose or polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, or other separation techniques. DNA from the libraries or the separated DNA may be transferred to and immobilized on nitrocellulose or other suitable carrier material. In order to identify a clone or DNA which is homologous with SEQ ID NO: 1 or a subsequence thereof, the carrier material is preferably used in a Southern blot.

For purposes of the present invention, hybridization indicates that the nucleotide sequence hybridizes to a labeled nucleic acid probe corresponding to the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, the cDNA sequence contained in the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1; its complementary strand; or a subsequence thereof; under at least very low to very high stringency conditions. Molecules to which the nucleic acid probe hybridizes under these conditions can be detected using, for example, X-ray film.

In a preferred aspect, the nucleic acid probe is the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. In another preferred aspect, the nucleic acid probe is nucleotides 171 to 2753 of SEQ ID NO: 1. In another preferred aspect, the nucleic acid probe is a polynucleotide sequence which encodes the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2, or a subsequence thereof. In another preferred aspect, the nucleic acid probe is SEQ ID NO: 1. In another preferred aspect, the nucleic acid probe is the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. In another preferred aspect, the nucleic acid probe is the mature polypeptide coding sequence contained in plasmid pKKAB which is contained in E. coli NRRL B-30860.

For long probes of at least 100 nucleotides in length, very low to very high stringency conditions are defined as prehybridization and hybridization at 42° C. in 5×SSPE, 0.3% SDS, 200 μg/ml sheared and denatured salmon sperm DNA, and either 25% formamide for very low and low stringencies, 35% formamide for medium and medium-high stringencies, or 50% formamide for high and very high stringencies, following standard Southern blotting procedures for 12 to 24 hours optimally.

For long probes of at least 100 nucleotides in length, the carrier material is finally washed three times each for 15 minutes using 2×SSC, 0.2% SDS preferably at least at 45° C. (very low stringency), more preferably at least at 50° C. (low stringency), more preferably at least at 55° C. (medium stringency), more preferably at least at 60° C. (medium-high stringency), even more preferably at least at 65° C. (high stringency), and most preferably at least at 70° C. (very high stringency).

For short probes which are about 15 nucleotides to about 70 nucleotides in length, stringency conditions are defined as prehybridization, hybridization, and washing post-hybridization at about 5° C. to about 10° C. below the calculated T_(n), using the calculation according to Bolton and McCarthy (1962, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 48: 1390) in 0.9 M NaCl, 0.09 M Tris-HCl pH 7.6, 6 mM EDTA, 0.5% NP-40, 1×Denhardt's solution, 1 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 1 mM sodium monobasic phosphate, 0.1 mM ATP, and 0.2 mg of yeast RNA per ml following standard Southern blotting procedures for 12 to 24 hours optimally.

For short probes which are about 15 nucleotides to about 70 nucleotides in length, the carrier material is washed once in 6×SCC plus 0.1% SDS for 15 minutes and twice each for 15 minutes using 6×SSC at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated T_(m).

In a third aspect, the present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity comprising A-E-[ST][IV][KR]G-[IM]-Q-[DS]-[ST]-G-V-[IV]-A.

In a fourth aspect, the present invention relates to artificial variants comprising a conservative substitution, deletion, and/or insertion of one or more amino acids of the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2; or a homologous sequence thereof. Preferably, amino acid changes are of a minor nature, that is conservative amino acid substitutions or insertions that do not significantly affect the folding and/or activity of the protein; small deletions, typically of one to about 30 amino acids; small amino- or carboxyl-terminal extensions, such as an amino-terminal methionine residue; a small linker peptide of up to about 20-25 residues; or a small extension that facilitates purification by changing net charge or another function, such as a poly-histidine tract, an antigenic epitope or a binding domain.

Examples of conservative substitutions are within the group of basic amino acids (arginine, lysine and histidine), acidic amino acids (glutamic acid and aspartic acid), polar amino acids (glutamine and asparagine), hydrophobic amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine), aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tryptophan and tyrosine), and small amino acids (glycine, alanine, serine, threonine and methionine). Amino acid substitutions which do not generally alter specific activity are known in the art and are described, for example, by H. Neurath and R. L. Hill, 1979, In, The Proteins, Academic Press, New York. The most commonly occurring exchanges are Ala/Ser, Val/Ile, Asp/Glu, Thr/Ser, Ala/Gly, Ala/Thr, Ser/Asn, Ala/Val, Ser/Gly, Tyr/Phe, Ala/Pro, Lys/Arg, Asp/Asn, Leu/Ile, Leu/Val, Ala/Glu, and Asp/Gly.

In addition to the 20 standard amino acids, non-standard amino acids (such as 4-hydroxyproline, 6-N-methyl lysine, 2-aminoisobutyric acid, isovaline, and alpha-methyl serine) may be substituted for amino acid residues of a wild-type polypeptide. A limited number of non-conservative amino acids, amino acids that are not encoded by the genetic code, and unnatural amino acids may be substituted for amino acid residues. “Unnatural amino acids” have been modified after protein synthesis, and/or have a chemical structure in their side chain(s) different from that of the standard amino acids. Unnatural amino acids can be chemically synthesized, and preferably, are commercially available, and include pipecolic acid, thiazolidine carboxylic acid, dehydroproline, 3- and 4-methylproline, and 3,3-dimethylproline.

Alternatively, the amino acid changes are of such a nature that the physico-chemical properties of the polypeptides are altered. For example, amino acid changes may improve the thermal stability of the polypeptide, alter the substrate specificity, change the pH optimum, and the like.

Essential amino acids in the parent polypeptide can be identified according to procedures known in the art, such as site-directed mutagenesis or alanine-scanning mutagenesis (Cunningham and Wells, 1989, Science 244: 1081-1085). In the latter technique, single alanine mutations are introduced at every residue in the molecule, and the resultant mutant molecules are tested for biological activity (i.e., beta-glucosidase activity) to identify amino acid residues that are critical to the activity of the molecule. See also, Hilton et al., 1996, J. Biol. Chem. 271: 4699-4708. The active site of the enzyme or other biological interaction can also be determined by physical analysis of structure, as determined by such techniques as nuclear magnetic resonance, crystallography, electron diffraction, or photoaffinity labeling, in conjunction with mutation of putative contact site amino acids. See, for example, de Vos et al., 1992, Science 255: 306-312; Smith et al., 1992, J. Mol. Biol. 224: 899-904; Wlodaver et al., 1992, FEBS Lett. 309: 59-64. The identities of essential amino acids can also be inferred from analysis of identities with polypeptides which are related to a polypeptide according to the invention.

Single or multiple amino acid substitutions can be made and tested using known methods of mutagenesis, recombination, and/or shuffling, followed by a relevant screening procedure, such as those disclosed by Reidhaar-Olson and Sauer, 1988, Science 241: 53-57; Bowie and Sauer, 1989, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86: 2152-2156; WO 95/17413; or WO 95/22625. Other methods that can be used include error-prone PCR, phage display (e.g., Lowman et al., 1991, Biochem. 30: 10832-10837; U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,409; WO 92/06204), and region-directed mutagenesis (Derbyshire et al., 1986, Gene 46: 145; Ner et al., 1988, DNA 7: 127).

Mutagenesis/shuffling methods can be combined with high-throughput, automated screening methods to detect activity of cloned, mutagenized polypeptides expressed by host cells (Ness et al., 1999, Nature Biotechnology 17: 893-896). Mutagenized DNA molecules that encode active polypeptides can be recovered from the host cells and rapidly sequenced using standard methods in the art. These methods allow the rapid determination of the importance of individual amino acid residues in a polypeptide of interest, and can be applied to polypeptides of unknown structure.

The total number of amino acid substitutions, deletions and/or insertions of the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2, such as amino acids 37 to 878 of SEQ ID NO: 2, is 10, preferably 9, more preferably 8, more preferably 7, more preferably at most 6, more preferably 5, more preferably 4, even more preferably 3, most preferably 2, and even most preferably 1.

Sources of Polypeptides Having Beta-Glucosidase Activity

A polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity of the present invention may be obtained from microorganisms of any genus. For purposes of the present invention, the term “obtained from” as used herein in connection with a given source shall mean that the polypeptide encoded by a nucleotide sequence is produced by the source or by a strain in which the nucleotide sequence from the source has been inserted. In a preferred aspect, the polypeptide obtained from a given source is secreted extracellularly.

A polypeptide of the present invention may be a bacterial polypeptide. For example, the polypeptide may be a gram positive bacterial polypeptide such as a Bacillus, Streptococcus, Streptomyces, Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Clostridium, Geobacillus, or Oceanobacillus polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity, or a Gram negative bacterial polypeptide such as an E. coli, Pseudomonas, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Helicobacter, Flavobacterium, Fusobacterium, Ilyobacter, Neisseria, or Ureaplasma polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity.

In a preferred aspect, the polypeptide is a Bacillus alkalophilus, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus brevis, Bacillus circulans, Bacillus clausii, Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus firmus, Bacillus lautus, Bacillus lentus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus stearothermophilus, Bacillus subtilis, or Bacillus thuringiensis polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity.

In another preferred aspect, the polypeptide is a Streptococcus equisimilis, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus uberis, or Streptococcus equi subsp. Zooepidemicus polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity.

In another preferred aspect, the polypeptide is a Streptomyces achromogenes, Streptomyces avermitilis, Streptomyces coelicolor, Streptomyces griseus, or Streptomyces lividans polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity.

A polypeptide of the present invention may also be a fungal polypeptide, and more preferably a yeast polypeptide such as a Candida, Kluyveromyces, Pichia, Saccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces, or Yarrowia polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity; or more preferably a filamentous fungal polypeptide such as an Acremonium, Aspergillus, Aureobasidium, Cryptococcus, Filibasidium, Fusarium, Humicola, Magnaporthe, Mucor, Myceliophthora, Neocaffimastix, Neurospora, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Piromyces, Schizophyllum, Talaromyces, Thermoascus, Thielavia, Tolypocladium, or Trichoderma polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity.

In a preferred aspect, the polypeptide is a Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces diastaticus, Saccharomyces douglasii, Saccharomyces kluyveri, Saccharomyces norbensis, or Saccharomyces oviformis polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity.

In another preferred aspect, the polypeptide is an Aspergillus aculeatus, Aspergillus awamori, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus foetidus, Aspergillus japonicus, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus oryzae, Fusarium bactridioides, Fusarium cerealis, Fusarium crookwellense, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium graminum, Fusarium heterosporum, Fusarium negundi, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium reticulatum, Fusarium roseum, Fusarium sambucinum, Fusarium sarcochroum, Fusarium sporotrichioides, Fusarium sulphureum, Fusarium torulosum, Fusarium trichothecioides, Fusarium venenatum, Humicola insolens, Humicola lanuginosa, Mucor miehei, Myceliophthora thermophila, Neurospora crassa, Penicillium purpurogenum, Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma koningii, Trichoderma longibrachiatum, Trichoderma reesei, Trichoderma viride, Thielavia achromatica, Thielavia albomyces, Thielavia albopilosa, Thielavia australeinsis, Thielavia fimeti, Thielavia microspora, Thielavia ovispora, Thielavia peruviana, Thielavia spededonium, Thielavia setosa, Thielavia subthermophila, Thielavia terrestris, Thielavia terricola, Thielavia thermophila, Thielavia variospora, or Thielavia wareingii polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity.

In another preferred aspect, the polypeptide is a Penicillium brasilianum, Penicillium camembertii, Penicillium capsulatum, Penicillium chrysogenum, Penicillium citreonigrum, Penicillium citrinum, Penicillium claviforme, Penicillium corylophilum, Penicillium crustosum, Penicillium digitatum, Penicillium expansum, Penicillium funiculosum, Penicillium glabrum, Penicillium granulatum, Penicillium griseofulvum, Penicillium islandicum, Penicillium italicum, Penicillium janthinellum, Penicillium lividum, Penicillium megasporum, Penicillium melinii, Penicillium notatum, Penicillium oxalicum, Penicillium puberulum, Penicillium purpurescens, Penicillium purpurogenum, Penicillium roquefortii, Penicillium rugulosum, Penicillium spinulosum, Penicillium waksmanii, or Penicillium sp. polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity.

In a more preferred aspect, the polypeptide is a Penicillium brasilianum polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity. In a most preferred aspect, the polypeptide is a Penicillium brasilianum IBT 20888 polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity, e.g., the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2 or the mature polypeptide thereof.

It will be understood that for the aforementioned species the invention encompasses both the perfect and imperfect states, and other taxonomic equivalents, e.g., anamorphs, regardless of the species name by which they are known. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize the identity of appropriate equivalents.

Strains of these species are readily accessible to the public in a number of culture collections, such as the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen and Zellkulturen GmbH (DSM), Centraalbureau Voor Schimmelcultures (CBS), and Agricultural Research Service Patent Culture Collection, Northern Regional Research Center (NRRL).

Furthermore, such polypeptides may be identified and obtained from other sources including microorganisms isolated from nature (e.g., soil, composts, water, etc.) using the above-mentioned probes. Techniques for isolating microorganisms from natural habitats are well known in the art. The polynucleotide may then be obtained by similarly screening a genomic or cDNA library of such a microorganism. Once a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide has been detected with the probe(s), the polynucleotide can be isolated or cloned by utilizing techniques which are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art (see, e.g., Sambrook et al., 1989, supra).

Polypeptides of the present invention also include fused polypeptides or cleavable fusion polypeptides in which another polypeptide is fused at the N-terminus or the C-terminus of the polypeptide or fragment thereof. A fused polypeptide is produced by fusing a nucleotide sequence (or a portion thereof) encoding another polypeptide to a nucleotide sequence (or a portion thereof) of the present invention. Techniques for producing fusion polypeptides are known in the art, and include ligating the coding sequences encoding the polypeptides so that they are in frame and that expression of the fused polypeptide is under control of the same promoter(s) and terminator.

Examples of cleavage sites include, but are not limited to, a Kex2 site which encodes the dipeptide Lys-Arg (Martin et al., 2003, J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 3: 568-76; Svetina et al., 2000, J. Biotechnol. 76: 245-251; Rasmussen-Wilson et al., 1997, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 63: 3488-3493; Ward et al., 1995, Biotechnology 13: 498-503; and Contreras et al., 1991, Biotechnology 9: 378-381), an Ile-(Glu or Asp)-Gly-Arg site, which is cleaved by a Factor Xa protease after the arginine residue (Eaton et al., 1986, Biochem. 25: 505-512); a Asp-Asp-Asp-Asp-Lys site, which is cleaved by an enterokinase after the lysine (Collins-Racie et al., 1995, Biotechnology 13: 982-987); a His-Tyr-Glu site or His-Tyr-Asp site, which is cleaved by Genenase I (Carter et al., 1989, Proteins: Structure, Function, and Genetics 6: 240-248); a Leu-Val-Pro-Arg-Gly-Ser site, which is cleaved by thrombin after the Arg (Stevens, 2003, Drug Discovery World 4: 35-48); a Glu-Asn-Leu-Tyr-Phe-Gln-Gly site, which is cleaved by TEV protease after the Gln (Stevens, 2003, supra); and a Leu-Glu-Val-Leu-Phe-Gln-Gly-Pro site, which is cleaved by a genetically engineered form of human rhinovirus 3C protease after the Gln (Stevens, 2003, supra).

Polynucleotides

The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides comprising or consisting of a nucleotide sequence which encode a polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity of the present invention.

In a preferred aspect, the nucleotide sequence comprises or consists of SEQ ID NO: 1. In another preferred aspect, the nucleotide sequence comprises or consists of the sequence contained in plasmid pKKAB which is contained in E. coli NRRL B-30860. In another preferred aspect, the nucleotide sequence comprises or consists of the mature polypeptide coding region of SEQ ID NO: 1. In another preferred aspect, the nucleotide sequence comprises or consists of nucleotides 171 to 2753 of SEQ ID NO: 1. In another preferred aspect, the nucleotide sequence comprises or consists of the mature polypeptide coding region contained in plasmid pKKAB which is contained in E. coli NRRL B-30860. The present invention also encompasses nucleotide sequences which encode a polypeptide comprising or consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or the mature polypeptide thereof, which differ from SEQ ID NO: 1 or the mature polypeptide coding sequence thereof by virtue of the degeneracy of the genetic code. The present invention also relates to subsequences of SEQ ID NO: 1 which encode fragments of SEQ ID NO: 2 that have beta-glucosidase activity.

The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides comprising or consisting of nucleotide sequences which encode polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity, wherein the polypeptides comprise A-E-[ST][IV][KR]G-[IM]-Q-[DS]-[ST]-G-V-[IV]-A.

The present invention also relates to mutant polynucleotides comprising at least one mutation in the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, in which the mutant nucleotide sequence encodes the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2. In a preferred aspect, the mature polypeptide is amino acids 37 to 878 of SEQ ID NO: 2.

The techniques used to isolate or clone a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide are known in the art and include isolation from genomic DNA, preparation from cDNA, or a combination thereof. The cloning of the polynucleotides of the present invention from such genomic DNA can be effected, e.g., by using the well known polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or antibody screening of expression libraries to detect cloned DNA fragments with shared structural features. See, e.g., Innis et al., 1990, PCR: A Guide to Methods and Application, Academic Press, New York. Other nucleic acid amplification procedures such as ligase chain reaction (LCR), ligated activated transcription (LAT) and nucleotide sequence-based amplification (NASBA) may be used. The polynucleotides may be cloned from a strain of Penicillium, or another or related organism and thus, for example, may be an allelic or species variant of the polypeptide encoding region of the nucleotide sequence.

The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides comprising or consisting of nucleotide sequences which have a degree of identity to the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 of at least 60%, preferably at least 65%, more preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 75%, more preferably at least 80%, more preferably at least 85%, more preferably at least 90%, even more preferably at least 95%, and most preferably at least 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identity, which encode an active polypeptide. In a preferred aspect, the mature polypeptide coding sequence is nucleotides 171 to 2753 of SEQ ID NO: 1.

Modification of a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of the present invention may be necessary for the synthesis of polypeptides substantially similar to the polypeptide. The term “substantially similar” to the polypeptide refers to non-naturally occurring forms of the polypeptide. These polypeptides may differ in some engineered way from the polypeptide isolated from its native source, e.g., artificial variants that differ in specific activity, thermostability, pH optimum, or the like. The variant sequence may be constructed on the basis of the nucleotide sequence presented as the polypeptide encoding region of SEQ ID NO: 1, e.g., a subsequence thereof, and/or by introduction of nucleotide substitutions which do not give rise to another amino acid sequence of the polypeptide encoded by the nucleotide sequence, but which correspond to the codon usage of the host organism intended for production of the enzyme, or by introduction of nucleotide substitutions which may give rise to a different amino acid sequence. For a general description of nucleotide substitution, see, e.g., Ford et al., 1991, Protein Expression and Purification 2: 95-107.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that such substitutions can be made outside the regions critical to the function of the molecule and still result in an active polypeptide. Amino acid residues essential to the activity of the polypeptide encoded by an isolated polynucleotide of the invention, and therefore preferably not subject to substitution, may be identified according to procedures known in the art, such as site-directed mutagenesis or alanine-scanning mutagenesis (see, e.g., Cunningham and Wells, 1989, supra). In the latter technique, mutations are introduced at every positively charged residue in the molecule, and the resultant mutant molecules are tested for beta-glucosidase activity to identify amino acid residues that are critical to the activity of the molecule. Sites of substrate-enzyme interaction can also be determined by analysis of the three-dimensional structure as determined by such techniques as nuclear magnetic resonance analysis, crystallography or photoaffinity labeling (see, e.g., de Vos et al., 1992, supra; Smith et al., 1992, supra; Wlodaver et al., 1992, supra).

The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides encoding a polypeptide of the present invention, which hybridize under at least very low stringency conditions, preferably at least low stringency conditions, more preferably at least medium stringency conditions, more preferably at least medium-high stringency conditions, even more preferably at least high stringency conditions, and most preferably at least very high stringency conditions with (i) the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, (ii) the cDNA sequence contained in the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or (iii) a complementary strand of (i) or (ii); or allelic variants and subsequences thereof (Sambrook et al., 1989, supra), as defined herein. In a preferred aspect, the mature polypeptide coding sequence is nucleotides 171 to 2753 of SEQ ID NO: 1.

The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides obtained by (a) hybridizing a population of DNA under at least very low, low, medium, medium-high, high, or very high stringency conditions with (i) the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, (ii) the cDNA sequence contained in the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or (iii) a complementary strand of (i) or (ii); and (b) isolating the hybridizing polynucleotide, which encodes a polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity. In a preferred aspect, the mature polypeptide coding sequence is nucleotides 171 to 2753 of SEQ ID NO: 1.

Nucleic Acid Constructs

The present invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs comprising an isolated polynucleotide of the present invention operably linked to one or more control sequences that direct the expression of the coding sequence in a suitable host cell under conditions compatible with the control sequences.

An isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of the present invention may be manipulated in a variety of ways to provide for expression of the polypeptide. Manipulation of the polynucleotide's sequence prior to its insertion into a vector may be desirable or necessary depending on the expression vector. The techniques for modifying polynucleotide sequences utilizing recombinant DNA methods are well known in the art.

The control sequence may be an appropriate promoter sequence, a nucleotide sequence which is recognized by a host cell for expression of a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of the present invention. The promoter sequence contains transcriptional control sequences which mediate the expression of the polypeptide. The promoter may be any nucleotide sequence which shows transcriptional activity in the host cell of choice including mutant, truncated, and hybrid promoters, and may be obtained from genes encoding extracellular or intracellular polypeptides either homologous or heterologous to the host cell.

Examples of suitable promoters for directing the transcription of the nucleic acid constructs of the present invention, especially in a bacterial host cell, are the promoters obtained from the E. coli lac operon, Streptomyces coelicolor agarase gene (dagA), Bacillus subtilis levansucrase gene (sacB), Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase gene (amyL), Bacillus stearothermophilus maltogenic amylase gene (amyM), Bacillus amyloliquefaciens alpha-amylase gene (amyQ), Bacillus licheniformis penicillinase gene (penP), Bacillus subtilis xylA and xylB genes, and prokaryotic beta-lactamase gene (Villa-Kamaroff et al., 1978, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 75: 3727-3731), as well as the tac promoter (DeBoer et al., 1983, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 80: 21-25). Further promoters are described in “Useful proteins from recombinant bacteria” in Scientific American, 1980, 242: 74-94; and in Sambrook et al., 1989, supra.

Examples of suitable promoters for directing the transcription of the nucleic acid constructs of the present invention in a filamentous fungal host cell are promoters obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Rhizomucor miehei aspartic proteinase, Aspergillus niger neutral alpha-amylase, Aspergillus niger acid stable alpha-amylase, Aspergillus niger or Aspergillus awamori glucoamylase (glaA), Rhizomucor miehei lipase, Aspergillus oryzae alkaline protease, Aspergillus oryzae triose phosphate isomerase, Aspergillus nidulans acetamidase, Fusarium venenatum amyloglucosidase (WO 00/56900), Fusarium venenatum Daria (WO 00/56900), Fusarium venenatum Quinn (WO 00/56900), Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-like protease (WO 96/00787), Trichoderma reesei beta-glucosidase, Trichoderma reesei cellobiohydrolase I, Trichoderma reesei cellobiohydrolase II, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase I, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase II, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase III, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase IV, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase V, Trichoderma reesei xylanase I, Trichoderma reesei xylanase II, Trichoderma reesei beta-xylosidase, as well as the NA2-tpi promoter (a hybrid of the promoters from the genes for Aspergillus niger neutral alpha-amylase and Aspergillus oryzae triose phosphate isomerase); and mutant, truncated, and hybrid promoters thereof.

In a yeast host, useful promoters are obtained from the genes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae enolase (ENO-1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae galactokinase (GAL1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcohol dehydrogenase/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (ADH1, ADH2/GAP), Saccharomyces cerevisiae triose phosphate isomerase (TPI), Saccharomyces cerevisiae metallothionine (CUP1), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae 3-phosphoglycerate kinase. Other useful promoters for yeast host cells are described by Romanos et al., 1992, Yeast 8: 423-488.

The control sequence may also be a suitable transcription terminator sequence, a sequence recognized by a host cell to terminate transcription. The terminator sequence is operably linked to the 3′ terminus of the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide. Any terminator which is functional in the host cell of choice may be used in the present invention.

Preferred terminators for filamentous fungal host cells are obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase, Aspergillus nidulans anthranilate synthase, Aspergillus niger alpha-glucosidase, and Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-like protease.

Preferred terminators for yeast host cells are obtained from the genes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae enolase, Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytochrome C(CYC1), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Other useful terminators for yeast host cells are described by Romanos et al., 1992, supra.

The control sequence may also be a suitable leader sequence, a nontranslated region of an mRNA which is important for translation by the host cell. The leader sequence is operably linked to the 5′ terminus of the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide. Any leader sequence that is functional in the host cell of choice may be used in the present invention.

Preferred leaders for filamentous fungal host cells are obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase and Aspergillus nidulans triose phosphate isomerase.

Suitable leaders for yeast host cells are obtained from the genes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae enolase (ENO-1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae 3-phosphoglycerate kinase, Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcohol dehydrogenase/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (ADH2/GAP).

The control sequence may also be a polyadenylation sequence, a sequence operably linked to the 3′ terminus of the nucleotide sequence and which, when transcribed, is recognized by the host cell as a signal to add polyadenosine residues to transcribed mRNA. Any polyadenylation sequence which is functional in the host cell of choice may be used in the present invention.

Preferred polyadenylation sequences for filamentous fungal host cells are obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase, Aspergillus nidulans anthranilate synthase, Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-like protease, and Aspergillus niger alpha-glucosidase.

Useful polyadenylation sequences for yeast host cells are described by Guo and Sherman, 1995, Molecular Cellular Biology 15: 5983-5990.

The control sequence may also be a signal peptide coding region that codes for an amino acid sequence linked to the amino terminus of a polypeptide and directs the encoded polypeptide into the cell's secretory pathway. The 5′ end of the coding sequence of the nucleotide sequence may inherently contain a signal peptide coding region naturally linked in translation reading frame with the segment of the coding region which encodes the secreted polypeptide. Alternatively, the 5′ end of the coding sequence may contain a signal peptide coding region which is foreign to the coding sequence. The foreign signal peptide coding region may be required where the coding sequence does not naturally contain a signal peptide coding region. Alternatively, the foreign signal peptide coding region may simply replace the natural signal peptide coding region in order to enhance secretion of the polypeptide. However, any signal peptide coding region which directs the expressed polypeptide into the secretory pathway of a host cell of choice, i.e., secreted into a culture medium, may be used in the present invention.

Effective signal peptide coding regions for bacterial host cells are the signal peptide coding regions obtained from the genes for Bacillus NCIB 11837 maltogenic amylase, Bacillus stearothermophilus alpha-amylase, Bacillus licheniformis subtilisin, Bacillus licheniformis beta-lactamase, Bacillus stearothermophilus neutral proteases (nprT, nprS, nprM), and Bacillus subtilis prsA. Further signal peptides are described by Simonen and Palva, 1993, Microbiological Reviews 57: 109-137.

Effective signal peptide coding regions for filamentous fungal host cells are the signal peptide coding regions obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Aspergillus niger neutral amylase, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase, Rhizomucor miehei aspartic proteinase, Humicola insolens cellulase, Humicola insolens endoglucanase V, and Humicola lanuginosa lipase.

In a preferred aspect, the signal peptide is amino acids 1 to 19 of SEQ ID NO: 2. In another preferred aspect, the signal peptide coding region is nucleotides 6 to 62 of SEQ ID NO: 1 which encode amino acids 1 to 19 of SEQ ID NO: 2.

Useful signal peptides for yeast host cells are obtained from the genes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor and Saccharomyces cerevisiae invertase. Other useful signal peptide coding regions are described by Romanos et al., 1992, supra.

The control sequence may also be a propeptide coding region that codes for an amino acid sequence positioned at the amino terminus of a polypeptide. The resultant polypeptide is known as a proenzyme or propolypeptide (or a zymogen in some cases). A propolypeptide is generally inactive and can be converted to a mature active polypeptide by catalytic or autocatalytic cleavage of the propeptide from the propolypeptide. The propeptide coding region may be obtained from the genes for Bacillus subtilis alkaline protease (aprE), Bacillus subtilis neutral protease (nprT), Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor, Rhizomucor miehei aspartic proteinase, and Myceliophthora thermophila laccase (WO 95/33836).

In a preferred aspect, the propeptide is amino acids 20 to 36 of SEQ ID NO: 2. In another preferred aspect, the propeptide coding region is nucleotides 63 to 170 of SEQ ID NO: 1, or the cDNA sequence thereof, which encode amino acids 20 to 36 of SEQ ID NO: 2.

Where both signal peptide and propeptide regions are present at the amino terminus of a polypeptide, the propeptide region is positioned next to the amino terminus of a polypeptide and the signal peptide region is positioned next to the amino terminus of the propeptide region.

It may also be desirable to add regulatory sequences which allow the regulation of the expression of the polypeptide relative to the growth of the host cell. Examples of regulatory systems are those which cause the expression of the gene to be turned on or off in response to a chemical or physical stimulus, including the presence of a regulatory compound. Regulatory systems in prokaryotic systems include the lac, tac, and trp operator systems. In yeast, the ADH2 system or GAL1 system may be used. In filamentous fungi, the TAKA alpha-amylase promoter, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase promoter, and Aspergillus oryzae glucoamylase promoter may be used as regulatory sequences. Other examples of regulatory sequences are those which allow for gene amplification. In eukaryotic systems, these include the dihydrofolate reductase gene which is amplified in the presence of methotrexate, and the metallothionein genes which are amplified with heavy metals. In these cases, the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide would be operably linked with the regulatory sequence.

Expression Vectors

The present invention also relates to recombinant expression vectors comprising a polynucleotide of the present invention, a promoter, and transcriptional and translational stop signals. The various nucleic acids and control sequences described herein may be joined together to produce a recombinant expression vector which may include one or more convenient restriction sites to allow for insertion or substitution of the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide at such sites. Alternatively, a nucleotide sequence of the present invention may be expressed by inserting the nucleotide sequence or a nucleic acid construct comprising the sequence into an appropriate vector for expression. In creating the expression vector, the coding sequence is located in the vector so that the coding sequence is operably linked with the appropriate control sequences for expression.

The recombinant expression vector may be any vector (e.g., a plasmid or virus) which can be conveniently subjected to recombinant DNA procedures and can bring about expression of the nucleotide sequence. The choice of the vector will typically depend on the compatibility of the vector with the host cell into which the vector is to be introduced. The vectors may be linear or closed circular plasmids.

The vector may be an autonomously replicating vector, i.e., a vector that exists as an extrachromosomal entity, the replication of which is independent of chromosomal replication, e.g., a plasmid, an extrachromosomal element, a minichromosome, or an artificial chromosome. The vector may contain any means for assuring self-replication. Alternatively, the vector may be one that, when introduced into the host cell, is integrated into the genome and replicated together with the chromosome(s) into which it has been integrated. Furthermore, a single vector or plasmid or two or more vectors or plasmids which together contain the total DNA to be introduced into the genome of the host cell, or a transposon may be used.

The vectors of the present invention preferably contain one or more selectable markers which permit easy selection of transformed, transfected, transduced, or the like cells. A selectable marker is a gene the product of which provides for biocide or viral resistance, resistance to heavy metals, prototrophy to auxotrophs, and the like.

Examples of bacterial selectable markers are the dal genes from Bacillus subtilis or Bacillus licheniformis, or markers which confer antibiotic resistance such as ampicillin, kanamycin, chloramphenicol, or tetracycline resistance. Suitable markers for yeast host cells are ADE2, HIS3, LEU2, LYS2, MET3, TRP1, and URA3. Selectable markers for use in a filamentous fungal host cell include, but are not limited to, amdS (acetamidase), argB (ornithine carbamoyltransferase), bar (phosphinothricin acetyltransferase), hph (hygromycin phosphotransferase), niaD (nitrate reductase), pyrG (orotidine-5′-phosphate decarboxylase), sC (sulfate adenyltransferase), and trpC (anthranilate synthase), as well as equivalents thereof. Preferred for use in an Aspergillus cell are the amdS and pyrG genes of Aspergillus nidulans or Aspergillus oryzae and the bar gene of Streptomyces hygroscopicus.

The vectors of the present invention preferably contain an element(s) that permits integration of the vector into the host cell's genome or autonomous replication of the vector in the cell independent of the genome.

For integration into the host cell genome, the vector may rely on the polynucleotide's sequence encoding the polypeptide or any other element of the vector for integration into the genome by homologous or nonhomologous recombination. Alternatively, the vector may contain additional nucleotide sequences for directing integration by homologous recombination into the genome of the host cell at a precise location(s) in the chromosome(s). To increase the likelihood of integration at a precise location, the integrational elements should preferably contain a sufficient number of nucleic acids, such as 100 to 10,000 base pairs, preferably 400 to 10,000 base pairs, and most preferably 800 to 10,000 base pairs, which have a high degree of identity with the corresponding target sequence to enhance the probability of homologous recombination. The integrational elements may be any sequence that is homologous with the target sequence in the genome of the host cell. Furthermore, the integrational elements may be non-encoding or encoding nucleotide sequences. On the other hand, the vector may be integrated into the genome of the host cell by non-homologous recombination.

For autonomous replication, the vector may further comprise an origin of replication enabling the vector to replicate autonomously in the host cell in question. The origin of replication may be any plasmid replicator mediating autonomous replication which functions in a cell. The term “origin of replication” or “plasmid replicator” is defined herein as a nucleotide sequence that enables a plasmid or vector to replicate in vivo.

Examples of bacterial origins of replication are the origins of replication of plasmids pBR322, pUC19, pACYC177, and pACYC184 permitting replication in E. coli, and pUB110, pE194, pTA1060, and pAMβ1 permitting replication in Bacillus.

Examples of origins of replication for use in a yeast host cell are the 2 micron origin of replication, ARS1, ARS4, the combination of ARS1 and CEN3, and the combination of ARS4 and CEN6.

Examples of origins of replication useful in a filamentous fungal cell are AMA1 and ANSI (Gems et al., 1991, Gene 98: 61-67; Cullen et al., 1987, Nucleic Acids Research 15: 9163-9175; WO 00/24883). Isolation of the AMA1 gene and construction of plasmids or vectors comprising the gene can be accomplished according to the methods disclosed in WO 00/24883.

More than one copy of a polynucleotide of the present invention may be inserted into the host cell to increase production of the gene product. An increase in the copy number of the polynucleotide can be obtained by integrating at least one additional copy of the sequence into the host cell genome or by including an amplifiable selectable marker gene with the polynucleotide where cells containing amplified copies of the selectable marker gene, and thereby additional copies of the polynucleotide, can be selected for by cultivating the cells in the presence of the appropriate selectable agent.

The procedures used to ligate the elements described above to construct the recombinant expression vectors of the present invention are well known to one skilled in the art (see, e.g., Sambrook et al., 1989, supra).

Host Cells

The present invention also relates to recombinant host cells, comprising an isolated polynucleotide of the present invention, which are advantageously used in the recombinant production of the polypeptides. A vector comprising a polynucleotide of the present invention is introduced into a host cell so that the vector is maintained as a chromosomal integrant or as a self-replicating extra-chromosomal vector as described earlier. The term “host cell” encompasses any progeny of a parent cell that is not identical to the parent cell due to mutations that occur during replication. The choice of a host cell will to a large extent depend upon the gene encoding the polypeptide and its source.

The host cell may be a unicellular microorganism, e.g., a prokaryote, or a non-unicellular microorganism, e.g., a eukaryote.

Useful unicellular microorganisms are bacterial cells such as Gram positive bacteria and Gram negative bacteria. Gram positive bacteria include, but not limited to, Bacillus, Streptococcus, Streptomyces, Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Clostridium, Geobacillus, and Oceanobacillus. Gram negative bacteria include, but not limited to, E. coli, Pseudomonas, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Helicobacter, Flavobacterium, Fusobacterium, Ilyobacter, Neisseria, and Ureaplasma.

The bacterial host cell may be any Bacillus cell. Bacillus cells useful in the practice of the present invention include, but are not limited to, Bacillus alkalophilus, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus brevis, Bacillus circulans, Bacillus clausii, Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus firmus, Bacillus lautus, Bacillus lentus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus stearothermophilus, Bacillus subtilis, and Bacillus thuringiensis cells.

In a preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus lentus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus stearothermophilus or Bacillus subtilis cell. In a more preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens cell. In another more preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Bacillus clausii cell. In another more preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Bacillus licheniformis cell. In another more preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Bacillus subtilis cell.

The bacterial host cell may be any Streptococcus cell. Streptococcus cells useful in the practice of the present invention include, but are not limited to, Streptococcus equisimilis, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus uberis, and Streptococcus equi subsp. Zooepidemicus.

In another preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Streptococcus equisimilis cell. In another preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Streptococcus pyogenes cell. In another preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Streptococcus uberis cell. In another preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Streptococcus equi subsp. Zooepidemicus cell.

The bacterial host cell may be any Streptomyces cell. Streptomyces cells useful in the practice of the present invention include, but are not limited to, Streptomyces achromogenes, Streptomyces avermitilis, Streptomyces coelicolor, Streptomyces griseus, and Streptomyces lividans.

In another preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Streptomyces achromogenes cell. In another preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Streptomyces avermitilis cell. In another preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Streptomyces coelicolor cell. In another preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Streptomyces griseus cell. In another preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Streptomyces lividans cell.

The introduction of DNA into a Bacillus cell may, for instance, be effected by protoplast transformation (see, e.g., Chang and Cohen, 1979, Molecular General Genetics 168: 111-115), by using competent cells (see, e.g., Young and Spizizin, 1961, Journal of Bacteriology 81: 823-829, or Dubnau and Davidoff-Abelson, 1971, Journal of Molecular Biology 56: 209-221), by electroporation (see, e.g., Shigekawa and Dower, 1988, Biotechniques 6: 742-751), or by conjugation (see, e.g., Koehler and Thorne, 1987, Journal of Bacteriology 169: 5271-5278). The introduction of DNA into an E coli cell may, for instance, be effected by protoplast transformation (see, e.g., Hanahan, 1983, J. Mol. Biol. 166: 557-580) or electroporation (see, e.g., Dower et al., 1988, Nucleic Acids Res. 16: 6127-6145). The introduction of DNA into a Streptomyces cell may, for instance, be effected by protoplast transformation and electroporation (see, e.g., Gong et al., 2004, Folia Microbiol. (Praha) 49: 399-405), by conjugation (see, e.g., Mazodier et al., 1989, J. Bacteriol. 171: 3583-3585), or by transduction (see, e.g., Burke et al., 2001, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98:6289-6294). The introduction of DNA into a Pseudomonas cell may, for instance, be effected by electroporation (see, e.g., Choi et al., 2006, J. Microbiol. Methods 64: 391-397) or by conjugation (see, e.g., Pinedo and Smets, 2005, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 51-57). The introduction of DNA into a Streptococcus cell may, for instance, be effected by natural competence (see, e.g., Perry and Kuramitsu, 1981, Infect. Immun. 32: 1295-1297), by protoplast transformation (see, e.g., Catt and Jollick, 1991, Microbios. 68: 189-2070, by electroporation (see, e.g., Buckley et al., 1999, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65: 3800-3804) or by conjugation (see, e.g., Clewell, 1981, Microbiol. Rev. 45: 409-436). However, any method known in the art can be used for introducing DNA into a host cell.

The host cell may also be a eukaryote, such as a mammalian, insect, plant, or fungal cell.

In a preferred aspect, the host cell is a fungal cell. “Fungi” as used herein includes the phyla Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Chytridiomycota, and Zygomycota (as defined by Hawksworth et al., In, Ainsworth and Bisby's Dictionary of The Fungi, 8th edition, 1995, CAB International, University Press, Cambridge, UK) as well as the Oomycota (as cited in Hawksworth et al., 1995, supra, page 171) and all mitosporic fungi (Hawksworth et al., 1995, supra).

In a more preferred aspect, the fungal host cell is a yeast cell. “Yeast” as used herein includes ascosporogenous yeast (Endomycetales), basidiosporogenous yeast, and yeast belonging to the Fungi Imperfecti (Blastomycetes). Since the classification of yeast may change in the future, for the purposes of this invention, yeast shall be defined as described in Biology and Activities of Yeast (Skinner, F. A., Passmore, S. M., and Davenport, R. R., eds, Soc. App. Bacteriol. Symposium Series No. 9, 1980).

In an even more preferred aspect, the yeast host cell is a Candida, Hansenula, Kluyveromyces, Pichia, Saccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces, or Yarrowia cell.

In a most preferred aspect, the yeast host cell is a Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces diastaticus, Saccharomyces douglasii, Saccharomyces kluyveri, Saccharomyces norbensis, or Saccharomyces oviformis cell. In another most preferred aspect, the yeast host cell is a Kluyveromyces lactis cell. In another most preferred aspect, the yeast host cell is a Yarrowia lipolytica cell.

In another more preferred aspect, the fungal host cell is a filamentous fungal cell. “Filamentous fungi” include all filamentous forms of the subdivision Eumycota and Oomycota (as defined by Hawksworth et al., 1995, supra). The filamentous fungi are generally characterized by a mycelial wall composed of chitin, cellulose, glucan, chitosan, mannan, and other complex polysaccharides. Vegetative growth is by hyphal elongation and carbon catabolism is obligately aerobic. In contrast, vegetative growth by yeasts such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae is by budding of a unicellular thallus and carbon catabolism may be fermentative.

In an even more preferred aspect, the filamentous fungal host cell is an Acremonium, Aspergillus, Aureobasidium, Bjerkandera, Ceriporiopsis, Coprinus, Coriolus, Cryptococcus, Filibasidium, Fusarium, Humicola, Magnaporthe, Mucor, Myceliophthora, Neocallimastix, Neurospora, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Phanerochaete, Phlebia, Piromyces, Pleurotus, Schizophyllum, Talaromyces, Thermoascus, Thielavia, Tolypocladium, Trametes, or Trichoderma cell.

In a most preferred aspect, the filamentous fungal host cell is an Aspergillus awamori, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus foetidus, Aspergillus japonicus, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus niger or Aspergillus oryzae cell. In another most preferred aspect, the filamentous fungal host cell is a Fusarium bactridioides, Fusarium cerealis, Fusarium crookwellense, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium graminum, Fusarium heterosporum, Fusarium negundi, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium reticulatum, Fusarium roseum, Fusarium sambucinum, Fusarium sarcochroum, Fusarium sporotrichioides, Fusarium sulphureum, Fusarium torulosum, Fusarium trichothecioides, or Fusarium venenatum cell. In another most preferred aspect, the filamentous fungal host cell is a Bjerkandera adusta, Ceriporiopsis aneirina, Ceriporiopsis aneirina, Ceriporiopsis caregiea, Ceriporiopsis gilvescens, Ceriporiopsis pannocinta, Ceriporiopsis rivulosa, Ceriporiopsis subrufa, Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, Coprinus cinereus, Coriolus hirsutus, Humicola insolens, Humicola lanuginosa, Mucor miehei, Myceliophthora thermophila, Neurospora crassa, Penicillium purpurogenum, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Phlebia radiata, Pleurotus eryngii, Thielavia terrestris, Trametes villosa, Trametes versicolor, Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma koningii, Trichoderma longibrachiatum, Trichoderma reesei, or Trichoderma viride cell.

Fungal cells may be transformed by a process involving protoplast formation, transformation of the protoplasts, and regeneration of the cell wall in a manner known per se. Suitable procedures for transformation of Aspergillus and Trichoderma host cells are described in EP 238 023 and Yelton et al., 1984, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 81: 1470-1474. Suitable methods for transforming Fusarium species are described by Malardier et al., 1989, Gene 78: 147-156, and WO 96/00787. Yeast may be transformed using the procedures described by Becker and Guarente, In Abelson, J. N. and Simon, M. I., editors, Guide to Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology, Methods in Enzymology, Volume 194, pp 182-187, Academic Press, Inc., New York; Ito et al., 1983, Journal of Bacteriology 153: 163; and Hinnen et al., 1978, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 75: 1920.

Methods of Production

The present invention also relates to methods for producing a polypeptide of the present invention, comprising: (a) cultivating a cell, which in its wild-type form is capable of producing the polypeptide, under conditions conducive for production of the polypeptide; and (b) recovering the polypeptide. Preferably, the cell is of the genus Penicillium, more preferably Penicillium brasilianum, and most preferably Penicillium brasilianum IBT 20888.

The present invention also relates to methods for producing a polypeptide of the present invention, comprising: (a) cultivating a host cell under conditions conducive for production of the polypeptide; and (b) recovering the polypeptide.

The present invention also relates to methods for producing a polypeptide of the present invention, comprising: (a) cultivating a host cell under conditions conducive for production of the polypeptide, wherein the host cell comprises a mutant nucleotide sequence having at least one mutation in the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein the mutant nucleotide sequence encodes a polypeptide which consists of the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2, and (b) recovering the polypeptide. In a preferred aspect, the mature polypeptide is amino acids 37 to 878 of SEQ ID NO: 2.

In the production methods of the present invention, the cells are cultivated in a nutrient medium suitable for production of the polypeptide using methods well known in the art. For example, the cell may be cultivated by shake flask cultivation, and small-scale or large-scale fermentation (including continuous, batch, fed-batch, or solid state fermentations) in laboratory or industrial fermentors performed in a suitable medium and under conditions allowing the polypeptide to be expressed and/or isolated. The cultivation takes place in a suitable nutrient medium comprising carbon and nitrogen sources and inorganic salts, using procedures known in the art. Suitable media are available from commercial suppliers or may be prepared according to published compositions (e.g., in catalogues of the American Type Culture Collection). If the polypeptide is secreted into the nutrient medium, the polypeptide can be recovered directly from the medium. If the polypeptide is not secreted into the medium, it can be recovered from cell lysates.

The polypeptides may be detected using methods known in the art that are specific for the polypeptides. These detection methods may include use of specific antibodies, formation of an enzyme product, or disappearance of an enzyme substrate. For example, an enzyme assay may be used to determine the activity of the polypeptide as described herein.

The resulting polypeptide may be recovered using methods known in the art. For example, the polypeptide may be recovered from the nutrient medium by conventional procedures including, but not limited to, centrifugation, filtration, extraction, spray-drying, evaporation, or precipitation.

The polypeptides of the present invention may be purified by a variety of procedures known in the art including, but not limited to, chromatography (e.g., ion exchange, affinity, hydrophobic, chromatofocusing, and size exclusion), electrophoretic procedures (e.g., preparative isoelectric focusing), differential solubility (e.g., ammonium sulfate precipitation), SDS-PAGE, or extraction (see, e.g., Protein Purification, J.-C. Janson and Lars Ryden, editors, VCH Publishers, New York, 1989) to obtain substantially pure polypeptides.

Plants

The present invention also relates to a transgenic plant, plant part, or plant cell which has been transformed with an isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity of the present invention so as to express and produce the polypeptide in recoverable quantities. The polypeptide may be recovered from the plant or plant part. Alternatively, the plant or plant part containing the recombinant polypeptide may be used as such for improving the quality of a food or feed, e.g., improving nutritional value, palatability, and rheological properties, or to destroy an antinutritive factor.

The transgenic plant can be dicotyledonous (a dicot) or monocotyledonous (a monocot). Examples of monocot plants are grasses, such as meadow grass (blue grass, Poa), forage grass such as Festuca, Lolium, temperate grass, such as Agrostis, and cereals, e.g., wheat, oats, rye, barley, rice, sorghum, and maize (corn).

Examples of dicot plants are tobacco, legumes, such as lupins, potato, sugar beet, pea, bean and soybean, and cruciferous plants (family Brassicaceae), such as cauliflower, rape seed, and the closely related model organism Arabidopsis thaliana.

Examples of plant parts are stem, callus, leaves, root, fruits, seeds, and tubers as well as the individual tissues comprising these parts, e.g., epidermis, mesophyll, parenchyme, vascular tissues, meristems. Specific plant cell compartments, such as chloroplasts, apoplasts, mitochondria, vacuoles, peroxisomes and cytoplasm are also considered to be a plant part. Furthermore, any plant cell, whatever the tissue origin, is considered to be a plant part. Likewise, plant parts such as specific tissues and cells isolated to facilitate the utilisation of the invention are also considered plant parts, e.g., embryos, endosperms, aleurone and seeds coats.

Also included within the scope of the present invention are the progeny of such plants, plant parts, and plant cells.

The transgenic plant or plant cell expressing a polypeptide of the present invention may be constructed in accordance with methods known in the art. In short, the plant or plant cell is constructed by incorporating one or more expression constructs encoding a polypeptide of the present invention into the plant host genome or chloroplast genome and propagating the resulting modified plant or plant cell into a transgenic plant or plant cell.

The expression construct is conveniently a nucleic acid construct which comprises a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of the present invention operably linked with appropriate regulatory sequences required for expression of the nucleotide sequence in the plant or plant part of choice. Furthermore, the expression construct may comprise a selectable marker useful for identifying host cells into which the expression construct has been integrated and DNA sequences necessary for introduction of the construct into the plant in question (the latter depends on the DNA introduction method to be used).

The choice of regulatory sequences, such as promoter and terminator sequences and optionally signal or transit sequences is determined, for example, on the basis of when, where, and how the polypeptide is desired to be expressed. For instance, the expression of the gene encoding a polypeptide of the present invention may be constitutive or inducible, or may be developmental, stage or tissue specific, and the gene product may be targeted to a specific tissue or plant part such as seeds or leaves. Regulatory sequences are, for example, described by Tague et al., 1988, Plant Physiology 86: 506.

For constitutive expression, the 35S-CaMV, the maize ubiquitin 1, and the rice actin 1 promoter may be used (Franck et al., 1980, Cell 21: 285-294, Christensen et al., 1992, Plant Mo. Biol. 18: 675-689; Zhang et al., 1991, Plant Cell 3: 1155-1165). organ-specific promoters may be, for example, a promoter from storage sink tissues such as seeds, potato tubers, and fruits (Edwards & Coruzzi, 1990, Ann. Rev. Genet. 24: 275-303), or from metabolic sink tissues such as meristems (Ito et al., 1994, Plant Mol. Biol. 24: 863-878), a seed specific promoter such as the glutelin, prolamin, globulin, or albumin promoter from rice (Wu et al., 1998, Plant and Cell Physiology 39: 885-889), a Vicia faba promoter from the legumin B4 and the unknown seed protein gene from Vicia faba (Conrad et al., 1998, Journal of Plant Physiology 152: 708-711), a promoter from a seed oil body protein (Chen et al., 1998, Plant and Cell Physiology 39: 935-941), the storage protein napA promoter from Brassica napus, or any other seed specific promoter known in the art, e.g., as described in WO 91/14772. Furthermore, the promoter may be a leaf specific promoter such as the rbcs promoter from rice or tomato (Kyozuka et al., 1993, Plant Physiology 102: 991-1000, the chlorella virus adenine methyltransferase gene promoter (Mitra and Higgins, 1994, Plant Molecular Biology 26: 85-93), or the aldP gene promoter from rice (Kagaya et al., 1995, Molecular and General Genetics 248: 668-674), or a wound inducible promoter such as the potato pin2 promoter (Xu et al., 1993, Plant Molecular Biology 22: 573-588). Likewise, the promoter may inducible by abiotic treatments such as temperature, drought, or alterations in salinity or induced by exogenously applied substances that activate the promoter, e.g., ethanol, oestrogens, plant hormones such as ethylene, abscisic acid, and gibberellic acid, and heavy metals.

A promoter enhancer element may also be used to achieve higher expression of a polypeptide of the present invention in the plant. For instance, the promoter enhancer element may be an intron which is placed between the promoter and the nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of the present invention. For instance, Xu et al., 1993, supra, disclose the use of the first intron of the rice actin 1 gene to enhance expression.

The selectable marker gene and any other parts of the expression construct may be chosen from those available in the art.

The nucleic acid construct is incorporated into the plant genome according to conventional techniques known in the art, including Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, virus-mediated transformation, microinjection, particle bombardment, biolistic transformation, and electroporation (Gasser et al., 1990, Science 244: 1293; Potrykus, 1990, Bio/Technology 8: 535; Shimamoto et al., 1989, Nature 338: 274).

Presently, Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated gene transfer is the method of choice for generating transgenic dicots (for a review, see Hooykas and Schilperoort, 1992, Plant Molecular Biology 19: 15-38) and can also be used for transforming monocots, although other transformation methods are often used for these plants. Presently, the method of choice for generating transgenic monocots is particle bombardment (microscopic gold or tungsten particles coated with the transforming DNA) of embryonic calli or developing embryos (Christou, 1992, Plant Journal 2: 275-281; Shimamoto, 1994, Current Opinion Biotechnology 5: 158-162; Vasil et al., 1992, Bio/Technology 10: 667-674). An alternative method for transformation of monocots is based on protoplast transformation as described by Omirulleh et al., 1993, Plant Molecular Biology 21: 415-428.

Following transformation, the transformants having incorporated the expression construct are selected and regenerated into whole plants according to methods well-known in the art. Often the transformation procedure is designed for the selective elimination of selection genes either during regeneration or in the following generations by using, for example, co-transformation with two separate T-DNA constructs or site specific excision of the selection gene by a specific recombinase.

The present invention also relates to methods for producing a polypeptide of the present invention comprising: (a) cultivating a transgenic plant or a plant cell comprising a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity of the present invention under conditions conducive for production of the polypeptide; and (b) recovering the polypeptide.

Removal or Reduction of Beta-Glucosidase Activity

The present invention also relates to methods for producing a mutant of a parent cell, which comprises disrupting or deleting a polynucleotide sequence, or a portion thereof, encoding a polypeptide of the present invention, which results in the mutant cell producing less of the polypeptide than the parent cell when cultivated under the same conditions.

The mutant cell may be constructed by reducing or eliminating expression of a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of the present invention using methods well known in the art, for example, insertions, disruptions, replacements, or deletions. In a preferred aspect, the nucleotide sequence is inactivated. The nucleotide sequence to be modified or inactivated may be, for example, the coding region or a part thereof essential for activity, or a regulatory element required for the expression of the coding region. An example of such a regulatory or control sequence may be a promoter sequence or a functional part thereof, i.e., a part that is sufficient for affecting expression of the nucleotide sequence. Other control sequences for possible modification include, but are not limited to, a leader, polyadenylation sequence, propeptide sequence, signal peptide sequence, transcription terminator, and transcriptional activator.

Modification or inactivation of the nucleotide sequence may be performed by subjecting the parent cell to mutagenesis and selecting for mutant cells in which expression of the nucleotide sequence has been reduced or eliminated. The mutagenesis, which may be specific or random, may be performed, for example, by use of a suitable physical or chemical mutagenizing agent, by use of a suitable oligonucleotide, or by subjecting the DNA sequence to PCR generated mutagenesis. Furthermore, the mutagenesis may be performed by use of any combination of these mutagenizing agents.

Examples of a physical or chemical mutagenizing agent suitable for the present purpose include ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, hydroxylamine, N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), O-methyl hydroxylamine, nitrous acid, ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS), sodium bisulphite, formic acid, and nucleotide analogues.

When such agents are used, the mutagenesis is typically performed by incubating the parent cell to be mutagenized in the presence of the mutagenizing agent of choice under suitable conditions, and screening and/or selecting for mutant cells exhibiting reduced or no expression of the gene.

Modification or inactivation of the nucleotide sequence may be accomplished by introduction, substitution, or removal of one or more nucleotides in the gene or a regulatory element required for the transcription or translation thereof. For example, nucleotides may be inserted or removed so as to result in the introduction of a stop codon, the removal of the start codon, or a change in the open reading frame. Such modification or inactivation may be accomplished by site-directed mutagenesis or PCR generated mutagenesis in accordance with methods known in the art. Although, in principle, the modification may be performed in vivo, i.e., directly on the cell expressing the nucleotide sequence to be modified, it is preferred that the modification be performed in vitro as exemplified below.

An example of a convenient way to eliminate or reduce expression of a nucleotide sequence by a cell is based on techniques of gene replacement, gene deletion, or gene disruption. For example, in the gene disruption method, a nucleic acid sequence corresponding to the endogenous nucleotide sequence is mutagenized in vitro to produce a defective nucleic acid sequence which is then transformed into the parent cell to produce a defective gene. By homologous recombination, the defective nucleic acid sequence replaces the endogenous nucleotide sequence. It may be desirable that the defective nucleotide sequence also encodes a marker that may be used for selection of transformants in which the nucleotide sequence has been modified or destroyed. In a particularly preferred aspect, the nucleotide sequence is disrupted with a selectable marker such as those described herein.

Alternatively, modification or inactivation of the nucleotide sequence may be performed by established anti-sense or RNAi techniques using a sequence complementary to the nucleotide sequence. More specifically, expression of the nucleotide sequence by a cell may be reduced or eliminated by introducing a sequence complementary to the nucleotide sequence of the gene that may be transcribed in the cell and is capable of hybridizing to the mRNA produced in the cell. Under conditions allowing the complementary anti-sense nucleotide sequence to hybridize to the mRNA, the amount of protein translated is thus reduced or eliminated.

The present invention further relates to a mutant cell of a parent cell which comprises a disruption or deletion of a nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide or a control sequence thereof, which results in the mutant cell producing less of the polypeptide or no polypeptide compared to the parent cell.

The polypeptide-deficient mutant cells so created are particularly useful as host cells for the expression of homologous and/or heterologous polypeptides. Therefore, the present invention further relates to methods for producing a homologous or heterologous polypeptide comprising: (a) cultivating the mutant cell under conditions conducive for production of the polypeptide; and (b) recovering the polypeptide. The term “heterologous polypeptides” is defined herein as polypeptides which are not native to the host cell, a native protein in which modifications have been made to alter the native sequence, or a native protein whose expression is quantitatively altered as a result of a manipulation of the host cell by recombinant DNA techniques.

In a further aspect, the present invention relates to a method for producing a protein product essentially free of beta-glucosidase activity by fermentation of a cell which produces both a polypeptide of the present invention as well as the protein product of interest by adding an effective amount of an agent capable of inhibiting beta-glucosidase activity to the fermentation broth before, during, or after the fermentation has been completed, recovering the product of interest from the fermentation broth, and optionally subjecting the recovered product to further purification.

In a further aspect, the present invention relates to a method for producing a protein product essentially free of beta-glucosidase activity by cultivating the cell under conditions permitting the expression of the product, subjecting the resultant culture broth to a combined pH and temperature treatment so as to reduce the beta-glucosidase activity substantially, and recovering the product from the culture broth. Alternatively, the combined pH and temperature treatment may be performed on an enzyme preparation recovered from the culture broth. The combined pH and temperature treatment may optionally be used in combination with a treatment with an beta-glucosidase inhibitor.

In accordance with this aspect of the invention, it is possible to remove at least 60%, preferably at least 75%, more preferably at least 85%, still more preferably at least 95%, and most preferably at least 99% of the beta-glucosidase activity. Complete removal of beta-glucosidase activity may be obtained by use of this method.

The combined pH and temperature treatment is preferably carried out at a pH in the range of 9 to 10 and a temperature in the range of at least 65° C. for a sufficient period of time to attain the desired effect, where typically, 10 to 30 minutes is sufficient.

The methods used for cultivation and purification of the product of interest may be performed by methods known in the art.

The methods of the present invention for producing an essentially beta-glucosidase-free product is of particular interest in the production of eukaryotic polypeptides, in particular fungal proteins such as enzymes. The enzyme may be selected from, e.g., an amylolytic enzyme, lipolytic enzyme, proteolytic enzyme, cellulytic enzyme, oxidoreductase, or plant cell-wall degrading enzyme. Examples of such enzymes include an aminopeptidase, amylase, amyloglucosidase, carbohydrase, carboxypeptidase, catalase, cellulase, chitinase, cutinase, cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase, deoxyribonuclease, esterase, galactosidase, beta-galactosidase, glucoamylase, glucose oxidase, glucosidase, haloperoxidase, hemicellulase, invertase, isomerase, laccase, ligase, lipase, lyase, mannosidase, oxidase, pectinolytic enzyme, peroxidase, phytase, phenoloxidase, polyphenoloxidase, proteolytic enzyme, ribonuclease, transferase, transglutaminase, or xylanase. The beta-glucosidase-deficient cells may also be used to express heterologous proteins of pharmaceutical interest such as hormones, growth factors, receptors, and the like.

It will be understood that the term “eukaryotic polypeptides” includes not only native polypeptides, but also those polypeptides, e.g., enzymes, which have been modified by amino acid substitutions, deletions or additions, or other such modifications to enhance activity, thermostability, pH tolerance and the like.

In a further aspect, the present invention relates to a protein product essentially free from beta-glucosidase activity which is produced by a method of the present invention.

Compositions

The present invention also relates to compositions comprising an isolated polypeptide of the present invention. Preferably, the compositions are enriched in such a polypeptide. The term “enriched” indicates that the beta-glucosidase activity of the composition has been increased, e.g., with an enrichment factor of at least 1.1.

The composition may comprise a polypeptide of the present invention as the major enzymatic component, e.g., a mono-component composition. Alternatively, the composition may comprise multiple enzymatic activities, such as an aminopeptidase, amylase, carbohydrase, carboxypeptidase, catalase, cellulase, chitinase, cutinase, cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase, deoxyribonuclease, esterase, alpha-galactosidase, beta-galactosidase, glucoamylase, alpha-glucosidase, beta-glucosidase, haloperoxidase, invertase, laccase, lipase, mannosidase, oxidase, pectinolytic enzyme, peptidoglutaminase, peroxidase, phytase, polyphenoloxidase, proteolytic enzyme, ribonuclease, transglutaminase, or xylanase.

The additional enzyme(s) may be produced, for example, by a microorganism belonging to the genus Aspergillus, preferably Aspergillus aculeatus, Aspergillus awamori, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus foetidus, Aspergillus japonicus, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus niger, or Aspergillus oryzae; Fusarium, preferably Fusarium bactridioides, Fusarium cerealis, Fusarium crookwellense, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium graminum, Fusarium heterosporum, Fusarium negundi, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium reticulatum, Fusarium roseum, Fusarium sambucinum, Fusarium sarcochroum, Fusarium sulphureum, Fusarium toruloseum, Fusarium trichothecioides, or Fusarium venenatum; Humicola, preferably Humicola insolens or Humicola lanuginosa; or Trichoderma, preferably Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma koningii, Trichoderma longibrachiatum, Trichoderma reesei, or Trichoderma viride.

The polypeptide compositions may be prepared in accordance with methods known in the art and may be in the form of a liquid or a dry composition. For instance, the polypeptide composition may be in the form of a granulate or a microgranulate. The polypeptide to be included in the composition may be stabilized in accordance with methods known in the art.

Examples are given below of preferred uses of the polypeptide compositions of the invention. The dosage of the polypeptide composition of the invention and other conditions under which the composition is used may be determined on the basis of methods known in the art.

Uses

The present invention is also directed to methods for using the polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity, or compositions thereof, as described below.

Degradation of Biomass to Monosaccharides, Disaccharides, and Polysaccharides

The present invention also relates to methods for degrading or converting a cellulosic material, comprising: treating the cellulosic material with an effective amount of one or more cellulolytic proteins in the presence of an effective amount of a polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity.

The polypeptides and host cells of the present invention, as described herein, may be used in the production of monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides as chemical or fermentation feedstocks from biomass for the production of ethanol, plastics, other products or intermediates. The polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity may be in the form of a crude fermentation broth with or without the cells removed or in the form of a semi-purified or purified enzyme preparation. The beta-glucosidase protein may also be a monocomponent preparation, a multicomponent protein preparation, or a combination of multicomponent and monocomponent protein preparations. Alternatively, a host cell of the present invention may be used as a source of the polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity in a fermentation process with the biomass. The host cell may also contain native or heterologous genes that encode cellulolytic protein as well as other enzymes useful in the processing of biomass. In particular, the polypeptides and host cells of the present invention may be used to increase the value of processing residues (dried distillers grain, spent grains from brewing, sugarcane bagasse, etc.) by partial or complete degradation of cellulose or hemicellulose.

Biomass can include, but is not limited to, wood resources, municipal solid waste, wastepaper, crops, and crop residues (see, for example, Wiselogel et al., 1995, in Handbook on Bioethanol (Charles E. Wyman, editor), pp. 105-118, Taylor & Francis, Washington D.C.; Wyman, 1994, Bioresource Technology 50: 3-16; Lynd, 1990, Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 24/25: 695-719; Mosier et al., 1999, Recent Progress in Bioconversion of Lignocellulosics, in Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology, T. Scheper, managing editor, Volume 65, pp. 23-40, Springer-Verlag, New York).

The predominant polysaccharide in the primary cell wall of biomass is cellulose, the second most abundant is hemi-cellulose, and the third is pectin. The secondary cell wall, produced after the cell has stopped growing, also contains polysaccharides and is strengthened by polymeric lignin covalently cross-linked to hemicellulose. Cellulose is a homopolymer of anhydrocellobiose and thus a linear beta-(1-4)-D-glucan, while hemicelluloses include a variety of compounds, such as xylans, xyloglucans, arabinoxylans, and mannans in complex branched structures with a spectrum of substituents. Although generally polymorphous, cellulose is found in plant tissue primarily as an insoluble crystalline matrix of parallel glucan chains. Hemicelluloses usually hydrogen bond to cellulose, as well as to other hemicelluloses, which help stabilize the cell wall matrix.

In the methods of the present invention, the cellulolytic protein may be any protein involved in the processing of cellulosic material to glucose, or hemicellulosic material to xylose, mannose, galactose, and arabinose, their polymers, or products derived from them as described below. As mentioned above, a host cell of the present invention may be used as a source of the polypeptide having beta-glucosidase and as a source of native or heterologous cellulolytic protein as well as other enzymes useful in the processing of biomass. The cellulolytic protein may also be a monocomponent preparation, e.g., a cellulase, a multicomponent preparation, e.g., endoglucanase, cellobiohydrolase, or a combination of multicomponent and monocomponent protein preparations. The cellulolytic proteins may have activity, i.e., hydrolyze cellulose, either in the acid, neutral, or alkaline pH-range.

The cellulolytic protein may be of fungal or bacterial origin, which may be obtained or isolated and purified from microorganisms which are known to be capable of producing cellulolytic enzymes, e.g., species of Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Humicola, Coprinus, Thielavia, Fusarium, Myceliophthora, Acremonium, Cephalosporium, Scytalidium, Penicillium or Aspergillus (see, for example, EP 458162), especially those produced by a strain selected from the species Humicola insolens (reclassified as Scytalidium thermophilum, see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,307), Coprinus cinereus, Fusarium oxysporum, Myceliophthora thermophila, Meripilus giganteus, Thielavia terrestris, Acremonium sp., Acremonium persicinum, Acremonium acremonium, Acremonium brachypenium, Acremonium dichromosporum, Acremonium obclavatum, Acremonium pinkertoniae, Acremonium roseogriseum, Acremonium incoloratum, and Acremonium furatum; preferably from the species Humicola insolens DSM 1800, Fusarium oxysporum DSM 2672, Myceliophthora thermophila CBS 117.65, Cephalosporium sp. RYM-202, Acremonium sp. CBS 478.94, Acremonium sp. CBS 265.95, Acremonium persicinum CBS 169.65, Acremonium acremonium AHU 9519, Cephalosporium sp. CBS 535.71, Acremonium brachypenium CBS 866.73, Acremonium dichromosporum CBS 683.73, Acremonium obclavatum CBS 311.74, Acremonium pinkertoniae CBS 157.70, Acremonium roseogriseum CBS 134.56, Acremonium incoloratum CBS 146.62, and Acremonium furatum CBS 299.70H. Cellulolytic proteins may also be obtained from Trichoderma (particularly Trichoderma viride, Trichoderma reesei, and Trichoderma koningii), alkalophilic Bacillus (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,890 and EP 458162), and Streptomyces (see, for example, EP 458162). Chemically modified or protein engineered mutants are included.

Especially suitable cellulolytic proteins are the alkaline or neutral cellulases. Examples of such cellulases are cellulases described in EP 495,257, EP 531,372, WO 96/11262, WO 96/29397, WO 98/08940. Other examples are cellulase variants such as those described in WO 94/07998, EP 531,315, U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,307, U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,046, U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,263, U.S. Pat. No. 5,686,593, U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,178, U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,254, U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,757, WO 89/09259, WO 95/24471, WO 98/12307, and PCT/DK98/00299.

The cellulolytic proteins used in the methods of the present invention may be produced by fermentation of the above-noted microbial strains on a nutrient medium containing suitable carbon and nitrogen sources and inorganic salts, using procedures known in the art (see, e.g., Bennett, J. W. and LaSure, L. (eds.), More Gene Manipulations in Fungi, Academic Press, Calif., 1991). Suitable media are available from commercial suppliers or may be prepared according to published compositions (e.g., in catalogues of the American Type Culture Collection). Temperature ranges and other conditions suitable for growth and cellulolytic protein production are known in the art (see, e.g., Bailey, J. E., and Ollis, D. F., Biochemical Engineering Fundamentals, McGraw-Hill Book Company, NY, 1986).

The fermentation can be any method of cultivation of a cell resulting in the expression or isolation of a cellulolytic protein. Fermentation may, therefore, be understood as comprising shake flask cultivation and small- or large-scale fermentation (including continuous, batch, fed-batch, or solid state fermentations) in laboratory or industrial fermenters performed in a suitable medium and under conditions allowing the cellulolytic protein to be expressed or isolated.

The resulting cellulolytic proteins produced by the methods described above may be recovered from the fermentation medium by conventional procedures including, but not limited to, centrifugation, filtration, spray-drying, evaporation, or precipitation. The recovered protein may then be further purified by a variety of chromatographic procedures, e.g., ion exchange chromatography, gel filtration chromatography, affinity chromatography, or the like.

Cellulolytic protein may hydrolyze or hydrolyzes carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), thereby decreasing the viscosity of the incubation mixture. The resulting reduction in viscosity may be determined by a vibration viscosimeter (e.g., MIVI 3000 from Sofraser, France). Determination of cellulase activity, measured in terms of Cellulase Viscosity Unit (CEVU), quantifies the amount of catalytic activity present in a sample by measuring the ability of the sample to reduce the viscosity of a solution of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The assay is performed at the temperature and pH suitable for the cellulolytic protein and substrate. For Celluclast™ (Novozymes A/S, Bagsværd, Denmark) the assay is carried out at 40° C. in 0.1 M phosphate pH 9.0 buffer for 30 minutes with CMC as substrate (33.3 g/L carboxymethyl cellulose Hercules 7 LFD) and an enzyme concentration of approximately 3.3-4.2 CEVU/ml. The CEVU activity is calculated relative to a declared enzyme standard, such as CELLUZYME™ Standard 17-1194 (obtained from Novozymes A/S, Bagsværd, Denmark).

Examples of cellulolytic preparations suitable for use in the present invention include, for example, CELLUCLAST™ (available from Novozymes A/S) and NOVOZYM™ 188 (available from Novozymes A/S). Other commercially available preparations comprising cellulase which may be used include CELLUZYME™, CEREFLO™ and ULTRAFLO™ (Novozymes A/S), LAMINEX™ and SPEZYME™ CP (Genencor Int.), and ROHAMENT™ 7069 W (Röhm GmbH). The cellulase enzymes are added in amounts effective from about 0.001% to about 5.0% wt. of solids, more preferably from about 0.025% to about 4.0% wt. of solids, and most preferably from about 0.005% to about 2.0% wt. of solids.

As mentioned above, the cellulolytic proteins used in the methods of the present invention may be monocomponent preparations, i.e., a component essentially free of other cellulolytic components. The single component may be a recombinant component, i.e., produced by cloning of a DNA sequence encoding the single component and subsequent cell transformed with the DNA sequence and expressed in a host (see, for example, WO 91/17243 and WO 91/17244). Other examples of monocomponent cellulolytic proteins include, but are not limited to, those disclosed in JP-07203960-A and WO-9206209. The host is preferably a heterologous host (enzyme is foreign to host), but the host may under certain conditions also be a homologous host (enzyme is native to host). Monocomponent cellulolytic proteins may also be prepared by purifying such a protein from a fermentation broth.

Examples of monocomponent cellulolytic proteins useful in practicing the methods of the present invention include, but are not limited to, endoglucanase, cellobiohydrolase, and other enzymes useful in degrading cellulosic biomass.

The term “endoglucanase” is defined herein as an endo-1,4-beta-D-glucan 4-glucanohydrolase (E.C. No. 3.2.1.4) which catalyses endohydrolysis of 1,4-beta-D-glycosidic linkages in cellulose, cellulose derivatives (such as carboxymethyl cellulose and hydroxyethyl cellulose), lichenin, beta-1,4 bonds in mixed beta-1,3 glucans such as cereal beta-D-glucans or xyloglucans, and other plant material containing cellulosic components. For purposes of the present invention, endoglucanase activity is determined using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) hydrolysis according to the procedure of Ghose, 1987, Pure and Appl. Chem. 59: 257-268. One unit of endoglucanase activity is defined as 1.0 mmole of reducing sugars produced per minute at 50° C., pH 4.8.

The term “cellobiohydrolase” is defined herein as a 1,4-beta-D-glucan cellobiohydrolase (E.C. 3.2.1.91), which catalyzes the hydrolysis of 1,4-beta-D-glucosidic linkages in cellulose, cellooligosaccharides, or any beta-1,4-linked glucose containing polymer, releasing cellobiose from the reducing or non-reducing ends of the chain. For purposes of the present invention, cellobiohydrolase activity is determined according to the procedures described by Lever et al., 1972, Anal. Biochem. 47: 273-279 and by van Tilbeurgh et al., 1982, FEBS Letters 149: 152-156; van Tilbeurgh and Claeyssens, 1985, FEBS Letters 187: 283-288.

The polypeptides of the present invention are used in conjunction with cellulolytic proteins to degrade the cellulosic and/or hemicellulosic components of the biomass substrate to sugars, as mentioned above (see, for example, Brigham et al., 1995, in Handbook on Bioethanol (Charles E. Wyman, editor), pp. 119-141, Taylor & Francis, Washington D.C.; Lee, 1997, Journal of Biotechnology 56: 1-24). The methods of the present invention can further comprise recovering the degraded cellulosic material, using methods conventional in the art.

The optimum amounts of a polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity and of cellulolytic proteins depends on several factors including, but not limited to, the mixture of component cellulolytic proteins, the cellulosic substrate, the concentration of cellulosic substrate, the pretreatment(s) of the cellulosic substrate, temperature, time, pH, and inclusion of fermenting organism (e.g., yeast for Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation). The term “cellulolytic proteins” is defined herein as those proteins or mixtures of proteins shown as being capable of hydrolyzing or converting or degrading cellulose under the conditions tested. Their amounts are usually measured by a common assay such as BCA (bicinchoninic acid, P. K. Smith et al., 1985, Anal. Biochem. 150: 76), and the preferred amount added in proportion to the amount of biomass being hydrolyzed.

In a preferred aspect, the amount of polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity per g of cellulosic material is about 0.01 to about 2.0 mg, preferably about 0.025 to about 1.5 mg, more preferably about 0.05 to about 1.25 mg, more preferably about 0.075 to about 1.25 mg, more preferably about 0.1 to about 1.25 mg, even more preferably about 0.15 to about 1.25 mg, and most preferably about 0.25 to about 1.0 mg per g of cellulosic material.

In another preferred aspect, the amount of cellulolytic proteins per g of cellulosic material is about 0.5 to about 50 mg, preferably about 0.5 to about 40 mg, more preferably about 0.5 to about 25 mg, more preferably about 0.75 to about 20 mg, more preferably about 0.75 to about 15 mg, even more preferably about 0.5 to about 10 mg, and most preferably about 2.5 to about 10 mg per g of cellulosic material.

The methods of the present invention may be used to process a cellulosic material to many useful substances, e.g., organic products, chemicals and fuels. In addition to ethanol, some commodity and specialty chemicals that can be produced from cellulose include xylose, acetone, acetate, glycine, lysine, organic acids (e.g., lactic acid), 1,3-propanediol, butanediol, glycerol, ethylene glycol, furfural, polyhydroxyalkanoates, cis, cis-muconic acid, and animal feed (Lynd, L. R., Wyman, C. E., and Gerngross, T. U., 1999, Biocommodity Engineering, Biotechnol. Prog., 15: 777-793; Philippidis, G. P., 1996, Cellulose bioconversion technology, in Handbook on Bioethanol: Production and Utilization, Wyman, C. E., ed., Taylor & Francis, Washington, D.C., 179-212; and Ryu, D. D. Y., and Mandels, M., 1980, Cellulases: biosynthesis and applications, Enz. Microb. Technol., 2: 91-102). Potential coproduction benefits extend beyond the synthesis of multiple organic products from fermentable carbohydrate. Lignin-rich residues remaining after biological processing can be converted to lignin-derived chemicals, or used for power production.

Conventional methods used to process the cellulosic material in accordance with the methods of the present invention are well understood to those skilled in the art. The methods of the present invention may be implemented using any conventional biomass processing apparatus configured to operate in accordance with the invention.

Such an apparatus may include a batch-stirred reactor, a continuous flow stirred reactor with ultrafiltration, a continuous plug-flow column reactor (Gusakov, A. V., and Sinitsyn, A. P., 1985, Kinetics of the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose: 1. A mathematical model for a batch reactor process, Enz. Microb. Technol. 7: 346-352), an attrition reactor (Ryu, S. K., and Lee, J. M., 1983, Bioconversion of waste cellulose by using an attrition bioreactor, Biotechnol. Bioeng. 25: 53-65), or a reactor with intensive stirring induced by an electromagnetic field (Gusakov, A. V., Sinitsyn, A. P., Davydkin, I. Y., Davydkin, V. Y., Protas, O. V., 1996, Enhancement of enzymatic cellulose hydrolysis using a novel type of bioreactor with intensive stirring induced by electromagnetic field, Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 56: 141-153).

The conventional methods include, but are not limited to, saccharification, fermentation, separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF), simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF), simultaneous saccharification and cofermentation (SSCF), hybrid hydrolysis and fermentation (HHF), and direct microbial conversion (DMC).

SHF uses separate process steps to first enzymatically hydrolyze cellulose to glucose and then ferment glucose to ethanol. In SSF, the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose and the fermentation of glucose to ethanol are combined in one step (Philippidis, G. P., 1996, Cellulose bioconversion technology, in Handbook on Bioethanol: Production and Utilization, Wyman, C. E., ed., Taylor & Francis, Washington, D.C., 179-212). SSCF includes the cofermentation of multiple sugars (Sheehan, J., and Himmel, M., 1999, Enzymes, energy and the environment: A strategic perspective on the U.S. Department of Energy's research and development activities for bioethanol, Biotechnol. Prog. 15: 817-827). HHF includes two separate steps carried out in the same reactor but at different temperatures, i.e., high temperature enzymatic saccharification followed by SSF at a lower temperature that the fermentation strain can tolerate. DMC combines all three processes (cellulase production, cellulose hydrolysis, and fermentation) in one step (Lynd, L. R., Weimer, P. J., van Zyl, W. H., and Pretorius, I. S., 2002, Microbial cellulose utilization: Fundamentals and biotechnology, Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Reviews 66: 506-577).

“Fermentation” or “fermentation process” refers to any fermentation process or any process comprising a fermentation step. A fermentation process includes, without limitation, fermentation processes used to produce fermentation products including alcohols (e.g., arabinitol, butanol, ethanol, glycerol, methanol, 1,3-propanediol, sorbitol, and xylitol); organic acids (e.g., acetic acid, acetonic acid, adipic acid, ascorbic acid, citric acid, 2,5-diketo-D-gluconic acid, formic acid, fumaric acid, glucaric acid, gluconic acid, glucuronic acid, glutaric acid, 3-hydroxypropionic acid, itaconic acid, lactic acid, malic acid, malonic acid, oxalic acid, propionic acid, succinic acid, and xylonic acid); ketones (e.g., acetone); amino acids (e.g., aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, lysine, serine, and threonine); gases (e.g., methane, hydrogen (H₂), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and carbon monoxide (CO)). Fermentation processes also include fermentation processes used in the consumable alcohol industry (e.g., beer and wine), dairy industry (e.g., fermented dairy products), leather industry, and tobacco industry.

The present invention further relates to methods for producing a substance, comprising: (a) saccharifying a cellulosic material with an effective amount of one or more cellulolytic proteins in the presence of an effective amount of a polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity; (b) fermenting the saccharified cellulosic material of step (a) with one or more fermenting microorganisms; and (c) recovering the substance from the fermentation. The polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity may be in the form of a crude fermentation broth with or without the cells or in the form of a semi-purified or purified enzyme preparation. The beta-glucosidase protein may be a monocomponent preparation, a multicomponent protein preparation, or a combination of multicomponent and monocomponent protein preparations.

The substance can be any substance derived from the fermentation. In a preferred aspect, the substance is an alcohol. It will be understood that the term “alcohol” encompasses a substance that contains one or more hydroxyl moieties. In a more preferred aspect, the alcohol is arabinitol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is butanol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is ethanol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is glycerol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is methanol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is 1,3-propanediol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is sorbitol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is xylitol. See, for example, Gong, C. S., Cao, N. J., Du, J., and Tsao, G. T., 1999, Ethanol production from renewable resources, in Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology, Scheper, T., ed., Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Germany, 65: 207-241; Silveira, M. M., and Jonas, R., 2002, The biotechnological production of sorbitol, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 59: 400-408; Nigam, P., and Singh, D., 1995, Processes for fermentative production of xylitol—a sugar substitute, Process Biochemistry 30 (2): 117-124; Ezeji, T. C., Qureshi, N. and Blaschek, H. P., 2003, Production of acetone, butanol and ethanol by Clostridium beijerinckii BA101 and in situ recovery by gas stripping, World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 19 (6): 595-603.

In another preferred aspect, the substance is an organic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is acetic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is acetonic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is adipic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is ascorbic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is citric acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is 2,5-diketo-D-gluconic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is formic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is fumaric acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is glucaric acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is gluconic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is glucuronic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is glutaric acid. In another preferred aspect, the organic acid is 3-hydroxypropionic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is itaconic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is lactic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is malic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is malonic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is oxalic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is propionic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is succinic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is xylonic acid. See, for example, Chen, R., and Lee, Y. Y., 1997, Membrane-mediated extractive fermentation for lactic acid production from cellulosic biomass, Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 63-65: 435-448.

In another preferred aspect, the substance is a ketone. It will be understood that the term “ketone” encompasses a substance that contains one or more ketone moieties. In another more preferred aspect, the ketone is acetone. See, for example, Qureshi and Blaschek, 2003, supra.

In another preferred aspect, the substance is an amino acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is aspartic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the amino acid is glutamic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the amino acid is glycine. In another more preferred aspect, the amino acid is lysine. In another more preferred aspect, the amino acid is serine. In another more preferred aspect, the amino acid is threonine. See, for example, Richard, A., and Margaritis, A., 2004, Empirical modeling of batch fermentation kinetics for poly(glutamic acid) production and other microbial biopolymers, Biotechnology and Bioengineering 87 (4): 501-515.

In another preferred aspect, the substance is a gas. In another more preferred aspect, the gas is methane. In another more preferred aspect, the gas is H₂. In another more preferred aspect, the gas is CO₂. In another more preferred aspect, the gas is CO. See, for example, Kataoka, N., A. Miya, and K. Kiriyama, 1997, Studies on hydrogen production by continuous culture system of hydrogen-producing anaerobic bacteria, Water Science and Technology 36 (6-7): 41-47; and Gunaseelan V. N. in Biomass and Bioenergy, Vol. 13 (1-2), pp. 83-114, 1997, Anaerobic digestion of biomass for methane production: A review.

Production of a substance from cellulosic material typically requires four major steps. These four steps are pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation, and recovery. Exemplified below is a process for producing ethanol, but it will be understood that similar processes can be used to produce other substances, for example, the substances described above.

Pretreatment.

In the pretreatment or pre-hydrolysis step, the cellulosic material is heated to break down the lignin and carbohydrate structure, solubilize most of the hemicellulose, and make the cellulose fraction accessible to cellulolytic enzymes. The heating is performed either directly with steam or in slurry where a catalyst may also be added to the material to speed up the reactions. Catalysts include strong acids, such as sulfuric acid and SO₂, or alkali, such as sodium hydroxide. The purpose of the pre-treatment stage is to facilitate the penetration of the enzymes and microorganisms. Cellulosic biomass may also be subject to a hydrothermal steam explosion pre-treatment (See U.S. Patent Application No. 20020164730).

Saccharification.

In the enzymatic hydrolysis step, also known as saccharification, enzymes as described herein are added to the pretreated material to convert the cellulose fraction to glucose and/or other sugars. The saccharification is generally performed in stirred-tank reactors or fermentors under controlled pH, temperature, and mixing conditions. A saccharification step may last up to 200 hours. Saccharification may be carried out at temperatures from about 30° C. to about 65° C., in particular around 50° C., and at a pH in the range between about 4 and about 5, especially around pH 4.5. To produce glucose that can be metabolized by yeast, the hydrolysis is typically performed in the presence of a polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity.

Fermentation.

In the fermentation step, sugars, released from the cellulosic material as a result of the pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis steps, are fermented to ethanol by a fermenting organism, such as yeast. The fermentation can also be carried out simultaneously with the enzymatic hydrolysis in the same vessel, again under controlled pH, temperature, and mixing conditions. When saccharification and fermentation are performed simultaneously in the same vessel, the process is generally termed simultaneous saccharification and fermentation or SSF.

Any suitable cellulosic substrate or raw material may be used in a fermentation process of the present invention. The substrate is generally selected based on the desired fermentation product, i.e., the substance to be obtained from the fermentation, and the process employed, as is well known in the art. Examples of substrates suitable for use in the methods of present invention, include cellulose-containing materials, such as wood or plant residues or low molecular sugars DP1-3 obtained from processed cellulosic material that can be metabolized by the fermenting microorganism, and which may be supplied by direct addition to the fermentation medium.

The term “fermentation medium” will be understood to refer to a medium before the fermenting microorganism(s) is (are) added, such as, a medium resulting from a saccharification process, as well as a medium used in a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process (SSF).

“Fermenting microorganism” refers to any microorganism suitable for use in a desired fermentation process. Suitable fermenting microorganisms according to the invention are able to ferment, i.e., convert, sugars, such as glucose, xylose, arabinose, mannose, galactose, or oligosaccharides directly or indirectly into the desired fermentation product. Examples of fermenting microorganisms include fungal organisms, such as yeast. Preferred yeast includes strains of the Saccharomyces spp., and in particular, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Commercially available yeast include, e.g., Red Star®/™/Lesaffre Ethanol Red (available from Red Star/Lesaffre, USA) FALI (available from Fleischmann's Yeast, a division of Burns Philp Food Inc., USA), SUPERSTART (available from Alltech), GERT STRAND (available from Gert Strand AB, Sweden) and FERMIOL (available from DSM Specialties).

In a preferred aspect, the yeast is a Saccharomyces spp. In a more preferred aspect, the yeast is Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Saccharomyces distaticus. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Saccharomyces uvarum. In another preferred aspect, the yeast is a Kluyveromyces spp. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Kluyveromyces marxianus. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Kluyveromyces fragilis. In another preferred aspect, the yeast is a Candida spp. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Candida pseudotropicalis. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Candida brassicae. In another preferred aspect, the yeast is a Clavispora spp. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Clavispora lusitaniae. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Clavispora opuntiae. In another preferred aspect, the yeast is a Pachysolen spp. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Pachysolen tannophilus. In another preferred aspect, the yeast is a Bretannomyces spp. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Bretannomyces clausenii (Philippidis, G. P., 1996, Cellulose bioconversion technology, in Handbook on Bioethanol: Production and Utilization, Wyman, C. E., ed., Taylor & Francis, Washington, D.C., 179-212).

Bacteria that can efficiently ferment glucose to ethanol include, for example, Zymomonas mobilis and Clostridium thermocellum (Philippidis, 1996, supra).

It is well known in the art that the organisms described above can also be used to produce other substances, as described herein.

The cloning of heterologous genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Chen, Z., Ho, N. W. Y., 1993, Cloning and improving the expression of Pichia stipitis xylose reductase gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 39-40: 135-147; Ho, N. W. Y., Chen, Z, Brainard, A. P., 1998, Genetically engineered Saccharomyces yeast capable of effectively cofermenting glucose and xylose, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64: 1852-1859), or in bacteria such as Escherichia coli (Beall, D. S., Ohta, K., Ingram, L. O., 1991, Parametric studies of ethanol production from xylose and other sugars by recombinant Escherichia coli, Biotech. Bioeng. 38: 296-303), Klebsiella oxytoca (Ingram, L. O., Gomes, P. F., Lai, X., Moniruzzaman, M., Wood, B. E., Yomano, L. P., York, S. W., 1998, Metabolic engineering of bacteria for ethanol production, Biotechnol. Bioeng. 58: 204-214), and Zymomonas mobilis (Zhang, M., Eddy, C., Deanda, K., Finkelstein, M., and Picataggio, S., 1995, Metabolic engineering of a pentose metabolism pathway in ethanologenic Zymomonas mobilis, Science 267: 240-243; Deanda, K., Zhang, M., Eddy, C., and Picataggio, S., 1996, Development of an arabinose-fermenting Zymomonas mobilis strain by metabolic pathway engineering, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 62: 4465-4470) has led to the construction of organisms capable of converting hexoses and pentoses to ethanol (cofermentation).

Yeast or another microorganism typically is added to the degraded cellulose or hydrolysate and the fermentation is ongoing for about 24 to about 96 hours, such as about 35 to about 60 hours. The temperature is typically between about 26° C. to about 40° C., in particular at about 32° C., and at about pH 3 to about pH 6, in particular around pH 4-5.

In a preferred aspect, yeast or another microorganism is applied to the degraded cellulose or hydrolysate and the fermentation is ongoing for about 24 to about 96 hours, such as typically 35-60 hours. In a preferred aspects, the temperature is generally between about 26 to about 40° C., in particular about 32° C., and the pH is generally from about pH 3 to about pH 6, preferably around pH 4-5. Yeast or another microorganism is preferably applied in amounts of approximately 10⁵ to 10¹², preferably from approximately 10⁷ to 10¹⁰, especially approximately 5×10⁷ viable count per ml of fermentation broth. During an ethanol producing phase the yeast cell count should preferably be in the range from approximately 10⁷ to 10¹⁰, especially around approximately 2×10⁸. Further guidance of using yeast for fermentation can be found in, e.g., “The Alcohol Textbook” (Editors K. Jacques, T. P. Lyons and D. R. Kelsall, Nottingham University Press, United Kingdom 1999), which is hereby incorporated by reference.

The most widely used process in the art is the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process where there is no holding stage for the saccharification, meaning that yeast and enzyme are added together.

For ethanol production, following the fermentation the mash is distilled to extract the ethanol. The ethanol obtained according to the process of the invention may be used as, e.g., fuel ethanol; drinking ethanol, i.e., potable neutral spirits, or industrial ethanol.

A fermentation stimulator may be used in combination with any of the enzymatic processes described herein to further improve the fermentation process, and in particular, the performance of the fermenting microorganism, such as, rate enhancement and ethanol yield. A “fermentation stimulator” refers to stimulators for growth of the fermenting microorganisms, in particular, yeast. Preferred fermentation stimulators for growth include vitamins and minerals. Examples of vitamins include multivitamins, biotin, pantothenate, nicotinic acid, meso-inositol, thiamine, pyridoxine, para-aminobenzoic acid, folic acid, riboflavin, and Vitamins A, B, C, D, and E. See, e.g., Alfenore et al., Improving ethanol production and viability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by a vitamin feeding strategy during fed-batch process, Springer-Verlag (2002), which is hereby incorporated by reference. Examples of minerals include minerals and mineral salts that can supply nutrients, e.g., P, K, Mg, S, Ca, Fe, Zn, Mn, and Cu.

Recovery.

The alcohol is separated from the fermented cellulosic material and purified by conventional methods of distillation. Ethanol with a purity of up to about 96 vol. % ethanol can be obtained, which can be used as, for example, fuel ethanol, drinking ethanol, i.e., potable neutral spirits, or industrial ethanol.

For other substances, any method known in the art can be used including, but not limited to, chromatography (e.g., ion exchange, affinity, hydrophobic, chromatofocusing, and size exclusion), electrophoretic procedures (e.g., preparative isoelectric focusing), differential solubility (e.g., ammonium sulfate precipitation), SDS-PAGE, distillation, or extraction.

In the methods of the present invention, the cellulolytic protein(s) and beta-glucosidase polypeptide(s) may be supplemented by one or more additional enzyme activities to improve the degradation of the cellulosic material. Preferred additional enzymes are hemicellulases, esterases (e.g., lipases, phospholipases, and/or cutinases), proteases, laccases, peroxidases, or mixtures thereof.

In the methods of the present invention, the additional enzyme(s) may be added prior to or during fermentation, including during or after the propagation of the fermenting microorganism(s).

The enzymes referenced herein may be derived or obtained from any suitable origin, including, bacterial, fungal, yeast or mammalian origin. The term “obtained” means herein that the enzyme may have been isolated from an organism which naturally produces the enzyme as a native enzyme. The term “obtained” also means herein that the enzyme may have been produced recombinantly in a host organism, wherein the recombinantly produced enzyme is either native or foreign to the host organism or has a modified amino acid sequence, e.g., having one or more amino acids which are deleted, inserted and/or substituted, i.e., a recombinantly produced enzyme which is a mutant and/or a fragment of a native amino acid sequence or an enzyme produced by nucleic acid shuffling processes known in the art. Encompassed within the meaning of a native enzyme are natural variants and within the meaning of a foreign enzyme are variants obtained recombinantly, such as by site-directed mutagenesis or shuffling.

The enzymes may also be purified. The term “purified” as used herein covers enzymes free from other components from the organism from which it is derived. The term “purified” also covers enzymes free from components from the native organism from which it is obtained. The enzymes may be purified, with only minor amounts of other proteins being present. The expression “other proteins” relate in particular to other enzymes. The term “purified” as used herein also refers to removal of other components, particularly other proteins and most particularly other enzymes present in the cell of origin of the enzyme of the invention. The enzyme may be “substantially pure,” that is, free from other components from the organism in which it is produced, that is, for example, a host organism for recombinantly produced enzymes. In a preferred aspect, the enzymes are at least 75% (w/w), preferably at least 80%, more preferably at least 85%, more preferably at least 90%, more preferably at least 95%, more preferably at least 96%, more preferably at least 97%, even more preferably at least 98%, or most preferably at least 99% pure. In another preferred aspect, the enzyme is 100% pure.

The enzymes used in the present invention may be in any form suitable for use in the processes described herein, such as, for example, a crude fermentation broth with or without cells, a dry powder or granulate, a non-dusting granulate, a liquid, a stabilized liquid, or a protected enzyme. Granulates may be produced, e.g., as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,106,991 and 4,661,452, and may optionally be coated by process known in the art. Liquid enzyme preparations may, for instance, be stabilized by adding stabilizers such as a sugar, a sugar alcohol or another polyol, and/or lactic acid or another organic acid according to established process. Protected enzymes may be prepared according to the process disclosed in EP 238,216.

Detergent Compositions

The isolated polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity of the present invention may be added to and thus become a component of a detergent composition.

The detergent composition of the present invention may for example be formulated as a hand or machine laundry detergent composition including a laundry additive composition suitable for pre-treatment of stained fabrics and a rinse added fabric softener composition, or be formulated as a detergent composition for use in general household hard surface cleaning operations, or be formulated for hand or machine dishwashing operations.

In a specific aspect, the present invention provides a detergent additive comprising a polypeptide having beta-glucosidase of the present invention. The detergent additive as well as the detergent composition may comprise one or more other enzymes such as a protease, lipase, cutinase, an amylase, carbohydrase, cellulase, pectinase, mannanase, arabinase, galactanase, xylanase, oxidase, e.g., a laccase, and/or peroxidase.

In general the properties of the chosen enzyme(s) should be compatible with the selected detergent, (i.e., pH-optimum, compatibility with other enzymatic and non-enzymatic ingredients, etc.), and the enzyme(s) should be present in effective amounts.

Proteases:

Suitable proteases include those of animal, vegetable or microbial origin. Microbial origin is preferred. Chemically modified or protein engineered mutants are included. The protease may be a serine protease or a metalloprotease, preferably an alkaline microbial protease or a trypsin-like protease. Examples of alkaline proteases are subtilisins, especially those derived from Bacillus, e.g., subtilisin Novo, subtilisin Carlsberg, subtilisin 309, subtilisin 147 and subtilisin 168 (described in WO 89/06279). Examples of trypsin-like proteases are trypsin (e.g., of porcine or bovine origin) and the Fusarium protease described in WO 89/06270 and WO 94/25583.

Examples of useful proteases are the variants described in WO 92/19729, WO 98/20115, WO 98/20116, and WO 98/34946, especially the variants with substitutions in one or more of the following positions: 27, 36, 57, 76, 87, 97, 101, 104, 120, 123, 167, 170, 194, 206, 218, 222, 224, 235 and 274.

Preferred commercially available protease enzymes include Alcalase™, Savinase™ Primase™, Duralase™, Esperase™, and Kannase™ (Novozymes A/S), Maxatase™, Maxacal™, Maxapem™, Properase™, Purafect™, Purafect OxP™, FN2™, and FN3™ (Genencor International Inc.).

Lipases:

Suitable lipases include those of bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically modified or protein engineered mutants are included. Examples of useful lipases include lipases from Humicola (synonym Thermomyces), e.g., from H. lanuginosa (T. lanuginosus) as described in EP 258 068 and EP 305 216 or from H. insolens as described in WO 96/13580, a Pseudomonas lipase, e.g., from P. alcaligenes or P. pseudoalcaligenes (EP 218 272), P. cepacia (EP 331 376), P. stutzeri (GB 1,372,034), P. fluorescens, Pseudomonas sp. strain SD 705 (WO 95/06720 and WO 96/27002), P. wisconsinensis (WO 96/12012), a Bacillus lipase, e.g., from B. subtilis (Dartois et al., 1993, Biochemica et Biophysica Acta, 1131, 253-360), B. stearothermophilus (JP 64/744992) or B. pumilus (WO 91/16422).

Other examples are lipase variants such as those described in WO 92/05249, WO 94/01541, EP 407 225, EP 260 105, WO 95/35381, WO 96/00292, WO 95/30744, WO 94/25578, WO 95/14783, WO 95/22615, WO 97/04079 and WO 97/07202.

Preferred commercially available lipases include Lipolase™, Lipex™, and Lipolase Ultra™ (Novozymes A/S).

Amylases:

Suitable amylases (alpha and/or beta) include those of bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically modified or protein engineered mutants are included. Amylases include, for example, α-amylases obtained from Bacillus, e.g., a special strain of Bacillus licheniformis, described in more detail in GB 1,296,839.

Examples of useful amylases are the variants described in WO 94/02597, WO 94/18314, WO 96/23873, and WO 97/43424, especially the variants with substitutions in one or more of the following positions: 15, 23, 105, 106, 124, 128, 133, 154, 156, 181, 188, 190, 197, 202, 208, 209, 243, 264, 304, 305, 391, 408, and 444.

Commercially available amylases are Duramyl™, Termamyl™, Fungamyl™ and BAN™ (Novozymes A/S), Rapidase™ and Purastar™ (from Genencor International Inc.).

Cellulases:

Suitable cellulases include those of bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically modified or protein engineered mutants are included. Suitable cellulases include cellulases from the genera Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Humicola, Fusarium, Thielavia, Acremonium, or Trichoderma e.g., the fungal cellulases produced from Humicola insolens, Myceliophthora thermophila and Fusarium oxysporum disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,307, U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,263, U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,178, U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,757 and WO 89/09259.

Especially suitable cellulases are the alkaline or neutral cellulases having color care benefits. Examples of such cellulases are cellulases described in EP 0 495 257, EP 0 531 372, WO 96/11262, WO 96/29397, WO 98/08940. Other examples are cellulase variants such as those described in WO 94/07998, EP 0 531 315, U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,046, U.S. Pat. No. 5,686,593, U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,254, WO 95/24471, WO 98/12307 and PCT/DK98/00299.

Commercially available cellulases include Celluclast®, Celluzyme™, and Carezyme™ (Novozymes A/S), Clazinase™, and Puradax HA™ (Genencor International Inc.), and KAC-500(B)™ (Kao Corporation).

Peroxidases/Oxidases:

Suitable peroxidases/oxidases include those of plant, bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically modified or protein engineered mutants are included. Examples of useful peroxidases include peroxidases from Coprinus, e.g., from C. cinereus, and variants thereof as those described in WO 93/24618, WO 95/10602, and WO 98/15257.

Commercially available peroxidases include Guardzyme™ (Novozymes A/S).

The detergent enzyme(s) may be included in a detergent composition by adding separate additives containing one or more enzymes, or by adding a combined additive comprising all of these enzymes. A detergent additive of the invention, i.e., a separate additive or a combined additive, can be formulated, for example, as a granulate, liquid, slurry, etc. Preferred detergent additive formulations are granulates, in particular non-dusting granulates, liquids, in particular stabilized liquids, or slurries.

Non-dusting granulates may be produced, e.g., as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,106,991 and 4,661,452 and may optionally be coated by methods known in the art. Examples of waxy coating materials are poly(ethylene oxide) products (polyethyleneglycol, PEG) with mean molar weights of 1000 to 20000; ethoxylated nonylphenols having from 16 to 50 ethylene oxide units; ethoxylated fatty alcohols in which the alcohol contains from 12 to 20 carbon atoms and in which there are 15 to 80 ethylene oxide units; fatty alcohols; fatty acids; and mono- and di- and triglycerides of fatty acids. Examples of film-forming coating materials suitable for application by fluid bed techniques are given in GB 1483591. Liquid enzyme preparations may, for instance, be stabilized by adding a polyol such as propylene glycol, a sugar or sugar alcohol, lactic acid or boric acid according to established methods. Protected enzymes may be prepared according to the method disclosed in EP 238,216.

The detergent composition of the invention may be in any convenient form, e.g., a bar, a tablet, a powder, a granule, a paste or a liquid. A liquid detergent may be aqueous, typically containing up to 70% water and 0-30% organic solvent, or non-aqueous.

The detergent composition comprises one or more surfactants, which may be non-ionic including semi-polar and/or anionic and/or cationic and/or zwitterionic. The surfactants are typically present at a level of from 0.1% to 60% by weight.

When included therein the detergent will usually contain from about 1% to about 40% of an anionic surfactant such as linear alkylbenzenesulfonate, alpha-olefinsulfonate, alkyl sulfate (fatty alcohol sulfate), alcohol ethoxysulfate, secondary alkanesulfonate, alpha-sulfo fatty acid methyl ester, alkyl- or alkenylsuccinic acid, or soap.

When included therein the detergent will usually contain from about 0.2% to about 40% of a non-ionic surfactant such as alcohol ethoxylate, nonylphenol ethoxylate, alkylpolyglycoside, alkyldimethylamineoxide, ethoxylated fatty acid monoethanolamide, fatty acid monoethanolamide, polyhydroxy alkyl fatty acid amide, or N-acyl N-alkyl derivatives of glucosamine (“glucamides”).

The detergent may contain 0-65% of a detergent builder or complexing agent such as zeolite, diphosphate, triphosphate, phosphonate, carbonate, citrate, nitrilotriacetic acid, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, alkyl- or alkenylsuccinic acid, soluble silicates, or layered silicates (e.g., SKS-6 from Hoechst).

The detergent may comprise one or more polymers. Examples are carboxymethylcellulose, poly(vinylpyrrolidone), poly(ethylene glycol), poly(vinyl alcohol), poly(vinylpyridine-N-oxide), poly(vinylimidazole), polycarboxylates such as polyacrylates, maleic/acrylic acid copolymers, and lauryl methacrylate/acrylic acid copolymers.

The detergent may contain a bleaching system which may comprise a H₂O₂ source such as perborate or percarbonate which may be combined with a peracid-forming bleach activator such as tetraacetylethylenediamine or nonanoyloxybenzenesulfonate. Alternatively, the bleaching system may comprise peroxyacids of, for example, the amide, imide, or sulfone type.

The enzyme(s) of the detergent composition of the invention may be stabilized using conventional stabilizing agents, e.g., a polyol such as propylene glycol or glycerol, a sugar or sugar alcohol, lactic acid, boric acid, or a boric acid derivative, e.g., an aromatic borate ester, or a phenyl boronic acid derivative such as 4-formylphenyl boronic acid, and the composition may be formulated as described in, for example, WO 92/19709 and WO 92/19708.

The detergent may also contain other conventional detergent ingredients such as, e.g., fabric conditioners including clays, foam boosters, suds suppressors, anti-corrosion agents, soil-suspending agents, anti-soil redeposition agents, dyes, bactericides, optical brighteners, hydrotropes, tarnish inhibitors, or perfumes.

In the detergent compositions any enzyme, in particular the enzyme of the invention, may be added in an amount corresponding to 0.01-100 mg of enzyme protein per liter of wash liquor, preferably 0.05-5 mg of enzyme protein per liter of wash liquor, in particular 0.1-1 mg of enzyme protein per liter of wash liquor.

The enzyme of the invention may additionally be incorporated in the detergent formulations disclosed in WO 97/07202, which is hereby incorporated as reference.

Other Uses

The polypeptides having beta-glucosidase activity of the present invention may also be used in combination with other glycohydrolases and related enzymes, as described herein, in the treatment of textiles as biopolishing agents and for reducing of fuzz, pilling, texture modification, and stonewashing (N. K. Lange, in P. Suominen, T. Reinikainen (Eds.), Trichoderma reesei Cellulases and Other Hydrolases, Foundation for Biotechnical and Industrial Fermentation Research, Helsinki, 1993, pp. 263-272). In addition, the described polypeptides may also be used in combination with other glycohydrolases and related enzymes, as described herein, in wood processing for biopulping or debarking, paper manufacturing for fiber modification, bleaching, and reduction of refining energy costs, whitewater treatment, important to wastewater recycling, lignocellulosic fiber recycling such as deinking and secondary fiber processing, and wood residue utilization (S. D, Mansfield and A. R. Esteghlalian in S. D, Mansfield and J. N. Saddler (Eds.), Applications of Enzymes to Lignocellulosics, ACS Symposium Series 855, Washington, D.C., 2003, pp. 2-29).

Signal Peptide and Propeptide

The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides encoding a signal peptide comprising or consisting of amino acids 1 to 19 of SEQ ID NO: 2. The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides encoding a propeptide comprising or consisting of amino acids 20 to 36 of SEQ ID NO: 2. The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides encoding a prepropeptide comprising or consisting of amino acids 1 to 36 of SEQ ID NO: 2. In a preferred aspect, the signal peptide is encoded by a polynucleotide that comprises or consists of nucleotides 6 to 62 of SEQ ID NO: 1. In another preferred aspect, the propeptide is encoded by a polynucleotide that comprises or consists of nucleotides 63 to 170 of SEQ ID NO: 1 or the cDNA sequence thereof. In another preferred aspect, the prepropeptide is encoded by a polynucleotide that comprises or consists of nucleotides 1 to 108 of SEQ ID NO: 1.

The present invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs comprising a gene encoding a protein operably linked to one or both of a first nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide comprising or consisting of amino acids 1 to 19 of SEQ ID NO: 2, which allows secretion of the protein into a culture medium, and a second nucleotide sequence encoding a propeptide comprising or consisting of amino acids 20 to 36 of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein the gene is foreign to the first and second nucleotide sequences.

In a preferred aspect, the first nucleotide sequence comprises or consists of nucleotides 6 to 62 of SEQ ID NO: 1. In another preferred aspect, the second nucleotide sequence comprises or consists of nucleotides 63 to 170 of SEQ ID NO: 1 or the cDNA sequence thereof.

The present invention also relates to recombinant expression vectors and recombinant host cells comprising such nucleic acid constructs.

The present invention also relates to methods for producing a protein comprising: (a) cultivating such a recombinant host cell under conditions suitable for production of the protein; and (b) recovering the protein.

The first and second nucleotide sequences may be operably linked to foreign genes individually with other control sequences or in combination with other control sequences. Such other control sequences are described supra. As described earlier, where both signal peptide and propeptide regions are present at the amino terminus of a protein, the propeptide region is positioned next to the amino terminus of a protein and the signal peptide region is positioned next to the amino terminus of the propeptide region.

The protein may be native or heterologous to a host cell. The term “protein” is not meant herein to refer to a specific length of the encoded product and, therefore, encompasses peptides, oligopeptides, and proteins. The term “protein” also encompasses two or more polypeptides combined to form the encoded product. The proteins also include hybrid polypeptides which comprise a combination of partial or complete polypeptide sequences obtained from at least two different proteins wherein one or more may be heterologous or native to the host cell. Proteins further include naturally occurring allelic and engineered variations of the above mentioned proteins and hybrid proteins.

Preferably, the protein is a hormone or variant thereof, enzyme, receptor or portion thereof, antibody or portion thereof, or reporter. In a more preferred aspect, the protein is an oxidoreductase, transferase, hydrolase, lyase, isomerase, or ligase. In an even more preferred aspect, the protein is an aminopeptidase, amylase, carbohydrase, carboxypeptidase, catalase, cellulase, chitinase, cutinase, cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase, deoxyribonuclease, esterase, alpha-galactosidase, beta-galactosidase, glucoamylase, alpha-glucosidase, beta-glucosidase, invertase, laccase, lipase, mannosidase, mutanase, oxidase, pectinolytic enzyme, peroxidase, phytase, polyphenoloxidase, proteolytic enzyme, ribonuclease, transglutaminase or xylanase.

The gene may be obtained from any prokaryotic, eukaryotic, or other source.

The present invention is further described by the following examples which should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.

EXAMPLES Materials

Chemicals used as buffers and substrates were commercial products of at least reagent grade.

DNA Sequencing

DNA sequencing was performed using an Applied Biosystems Model 3130× Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif., USA) using dye terminator chemistry (Giesecke et al., 1992, Journal of Virol. Methods 38: 47-60). Sequences were assembled using phred/phrap/consed (University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., USA) with sequence specific primers.

Strains

Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 (IBT Culture Collection of Fungi, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark) was used as the source of beta-glucosidase. Aspergillus oryzae BECH2 (WO 00/30322) was used for expression of the Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 beta-glucosidase.

Media and Solutions

TE was composed of 10 mM Tris-1 mM EDTA.

LB medium was composed per liter of 10 g of tryptone, 5 g of yeast extract, and 5 g of sodium chloride.

LB plates were composed per liter of 10 g of tryptone, 5 g of yeast extract, 5 g of sodium chloride, and 15 g of Bacto Agar.

STC was composed of 1.2 M sorbitol, 10 mM Tris-HCl, and 10 mM CaCl₂, pH 7.5.

PEG solution was composed of 60% PEG 4000, 10 mM Tris-HCl, and 10 mM CaCl₂, pH 7.5.

YPM medium was composed per liter of 10 g of yeast extract, 20 g of peptone, and 2% maltose.

Example 1 Isolation of Genomic DNA from Penicillium brasilianum

Spores of Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 were propagated on rice according to Carlsen, 1994, Ph.D. thesis, Department of Biotechnology, The Technical University of Denmark. The spores were recovered with 20 ml of 0.1% Tween 20 and inoculated at a concentration of 1×10⁶ spores per ml into 100 ml of Mandels and Weber medium (Mandels and Weber, 1969, Adv. Chem. Ser. 95: 394-414) containing 1% glucose supplemented per liter with 0.25 g of yeast extract and 0.75 g of Bactopeptone in a 500 ml baffled shake flask. The fungal mycelia were harvested after 24 hours of aerobic growth at 30° C., 150 rpm.

Mycelia were collected by filtration through a Nalgene DS0281-5000 filter (Nalge Nunc International Corporation, Rochester, N.Y., USA) until dryness and frozen in liquid nitrogen. The frozen mycelia were ground to a powder in a dry ice chilled mortar and distributed to a screw-cap tube. The powder was suspended in a total volume of 40 ml of 50 mM 3-(cyclohexylamino)-1-propanesulfonic acid (CAPS)-NaOH pH 11 buffer containing 0.5% lithium dodecyl sulfate and 0.5 mM EDTA. The suspension was placed at 60° C. for 2 hours and periodically resuspended by inversion. To the suspension was added an equal volume of phenol:chloroform (1:1 v/v) neutralized with 0.1 M Tris base, and the tube was mixed on a rotating wheel at 37° C. for 2 hours. After centrifugation at 2500 rpm for 10 minutes in a Sorvall H1000B rotor, the aqueous phase (top phase) was re-extracted again with phenol:chloroform (1:1 v/v) and centrifuged at 15,000×g for 5 minutes. The aqueous phase from the second extraction was brought to 2.5 M ammonium acetate (stock 10 M) and placed at −20° C. until frozen. After thawing, the extract was centrifuged at 15,000×g for 20 minutes in a cold rotor. The pellet (primarily rRNA) was discarded and the nucleic acids in the supernatant were precipitated by addition of 0.7 volumes of isopropanol. After centrifugation at 15,000×g for 15 minutes, the pellet was rinsed three times with 5 ml of 70% ethanol (without resuspension), air-dried almost completely, and dissolved in 1.0 ml of 0.1×TE. The dissolved pellet was transferred to two 1.5 ml microfuge tubes. The pellet solution was precipitated by addition of ammonium acetate (0.125 ml) to 2.0 M and ethanol to 63% (1.07 ml) and centrifuged at maximum speed for 10 minutes in a Sorvall MC 12V microcentrifuge (Kendro Laboratory Products, Asheville, N.C., USA). The pellet was rinsed twice with 70% ethanol, air-dried completely, and dissolved in 500 μl of 0.1×TE.

Example 2 Preparation of a Genomic DNA Library

Genomic libraries were constructed using a TOPO Shotgun Subcloning Kit (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif., USA). Briefly, total cellular DNA was sheared by nebulization under 10 psi nitrogen for 15 seconds and size-fractionated on 1% agarose gels using 40 mM Tris base-20 mM sodium acetate-1 mM disodium EDTA (TAE) buffer. DNA fragments migrating in the size range 3-6 kb were excised and eluted using a MiniElute™ Gel Extraction Kit (QIAGEN Inc, Valencia, Calif., USA). The eluted fragments were size-fractionated again using a 1% agarose gel as above and DNA fragments migrating in the size range 3-6 kb were excised and eluted using a MiniElute™ Gel Extraction Kit.

The eluted DNA fragments were blunt end repaired and dephosphorylated using shrimp alkaline phosphatase (Roche Applied Science, Manheim, Germany). The blunt end DNA fragments were cloned into a pCR4Blunt-TOPO vector (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif., USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions, transformed into electrocompetent E. coli TOP10 cells by electroporation, and plated on LB plates supplemented with 100 μg of ampicillin per ml. The electroporation resulted in 15,300 clones.

Example 3 Purification of Penicillium brasilianum Beta-Glucosidase

Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 was grown in 4 liters of Mandels and Weber medium (Mandels and Weber, 1969, supra) in a 5 liter bioreactor supplemented per liter with 1 g of yeast extract, 3 g of bactopeptone, 30 g of cellulose, and 10 g of xylan. Spores were propagated on rice according to Carlsen, 1994, supra. The bioreactor was inoculated at a concentration of 1×10⁶ spores per ml. The pH was maintained at 5.0 by addition of either 2 M NH₄OH or 2 M HCl. The temperature was maintained at 30° C. The aeration was 4 liters per minute and 300-500 rpm. After 111 hours, the cultivation was terminated and the broth was filtered through a glass fiber filter (GD 120, Advantec, Japan).

Beta-glucosidase activity was measured at room temperature in 50 mM sodium citrate pH 4.8. The substrate was 1 mM 4-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside in 50 mM sodium citrate pH 4.8. The beta-glucosidase hydrolyzes the agluconic bond between 4-nitrophenol and glucose. The liberated 4-nitrophenol is yellow in alkaline solution and can be determined spectrophotometrically at 405 nm. One international unit of activity (U) is defined as the amount of enzyme liberating 1 μmole of 4-nitrophenol per minute at pH 4.8, 25° C.

Protein concentration was determined by SDS-PAGE. Fifteen μl of sample was added to 15 μl of SDS-PAGE sample buffer (1.17 M sucrose, 1 M Tris-HCL, pH 8.5, 278 mM SDS, 2.05 mM EDTA, 0.88 mM Brilliant Blue G, and 0.2 M dithiothreitol) in an Eppendorf tube and heated to 70° C. for 10 minutes. Following heating the diluted sample was applied to a precast 4-12% Bis-Tris pre-cast gel (Invitrogen, Groningen, The Netherlands). In addition, a Mark 12 protein standard mixture (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif., USA) was applied to the gel.

The gel was run in an Xcell SureLock™ gel apparatus (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif., USA) for 50 minutes at 200 V. The running buffer was made by a 20-fold dilution of the standard buffer (1 M MOPS, 1 M TRIS, and 1% SDS). A 0.5 ml volume of NuPAGE® Antioxidant (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif., USA) was added to the upper (cathode) buffer chamber. Following electrophoresis the gel was incubated for 60 minutes in a staining solution consisting of 0.1% (w/v) Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 dissolved in 10% acetic acid, 40% methanol, and 50% H₂O. Destaining of the gel was performed in 10% acetic acid, 30% methanol, and 60% H₂O.

Before purification, the filtrate was concentrated and buffer exchanged to 20 mM triethanolamine (TEA)-HCl pH 7.5 using an Amicon ultrafiltration unit equipped with a PM10 membrane with 10 kDa cut-off (Millipore, Bedford, Mass., USA). The enzyme purification was performed at room temperature using a FPLC system (Amersham Bioscience, Uppsala, Sweden). Between each purification step, the buffer was exchanged in the pooled fractions to the sample buffer using either an Amicon ultrafiltration unit or a 3.5 ml Microsep ultrafiltration unit with a 10 kDa cut-off (Pall Life Sciences, Ann Arbor, Mich., USA). Elution of the beta-glucosidase was monitored at 280 nm.

The retentate (38.5 ml) was loaded onto a XK 26 column packed with 75 ml of Q Sepharose HP (Amersham Bioscience, Uppsala, Sweden). The column was washed with 180 ml of sample buffer. The sample buffer was 20 mM TEA-HCl pH 7.5. The enzyme was eluted with a gradient up to 50% (over 800 ml) of 20 mM TEA-HCl pH 7.5 with 1 M NaCl. Fractions of 10 ml were collected, assayed for beta-glucosidase activity, and fractions 81 to 85 were pooled.

The retentate (2.0 ml) from the previous step was loaded onto a Superdex 75 10/300 GL column (Amersham Bioscience, Uppsala, Sweden) using 100 mM NaCH₃CO₂ pH 4.8 with 200 mM NaCl as the sample buffer. The enzyme was eluted with 60 ml of the same buffer. Fractions of 2 ml were collected, assayed for beta-glucosidase activity, and fractions 6 to 9 were pooled based on activity and purity (SDS-PAGE).

The retentate (14 ml) from the Superdex 75 step was loaded onto a 6 ml RESOURCE Q column (Amersham Bioscience, Uppsala, Sweden) using 10 mM NaCH₃CO₂ pH 4.8 as the sample buffer. The column was washed with 30 ml of sample buffer. The enzyme was eluted with a gradient up to 50% (over 180 ml) of 500 mM NaCH₃CO₂ pH 4.8. Fractions of 2 ml were collected, assayed for beta-glucosidase activity, and fractions 49 to 61 were pooled based on activity and purity (SDS-PAGE).

The retentate (12 ml) from the RESOURCE Q step was loaded onto another 6 ml RESOURCE Q column (Amersham Bioscience, Uppsala, Sweden) using 10 mM NaCH₃CO₂ pH 4.8 as the sample buffer. The column was washed with 30 ml of sample buffer. The enzyme was eluted with a gradient up to 50% (over 300 ml) of 500 mM NaCH₃CO₂ pH 4.8. Fractions of 2 ml were collected, assayed for beta-glucosidase activity, and fractions 63 to 67 were pooled based on specific activity and purity (SDS-PAGE).

The retentate (10.5 ml) from the RESOURCE Q step was loaded onto a 10 ml Source S column (Amersham Bioscience, Uppsala, Sweden) using 10 mM NaCH₃CO₂ pH 4.0 as the sample buffer. The column was washed with 31.5 ml of sample buffer. The enzyme was eluted with a gradient up to 15% (over 120 ml) of 1 M NaCH₃CO₂ pH 4.0 and then with a gradient from 15% to 100% (over 90 ml) of 1 M NaCH₃CO₂ pH 4.0. Fractions of 2 ml were collected, assayed for beta-glucosidase activity, and fractions 93 to 107 were pooled based on specific activity and purity (SDS-PAGE).

The retentate (2 ml) from the Source S step was loaded onto a Superdex 200 H10/300 GL column (Amersham Bioscience, Uppsala, Sweden) using 100 mM NaCH₃CO₂ pH 4.8 with 200 mM NaCl as the sample buffer. The enzyme was eluted with 50 ml of the same buffer. Fractions of 0.5 ml were collected, assayed for beta-glucosidase activity, and fractions 28 to 31 were pooled based on specific activity and purity (SDS-PAGE).

The retentate (8.0 ml) from the Superdex 200 step was loaded onto a 1 ml Phenyl Sepharose HP column (Amersham Bioscience, Uppsala, Sweden) using 1 M (NH₄)₂SO₄, 50 mM NaCH₃CO₂ pH 4.8 as the sample buffer. The column was washed with 17.0 ml of the sample buffer. The enzyme was eluted with a gradient up to 100% (over 70 ml) of 50 mM NaCH₃CO₂ pH 4.8. Fractions of 0.5 ml were collected, assayed for beta-glucosidase activity, and fractions 73 to 78 were pooled based on specific activity and purity (SDS-PAGE).

SDS-PAGE of the purified beta-glucosidase showed only one band at approximately 115 kDa. Isoelectric focusing was performed with a Pharmacia PhastSystem using IEF gels, pH 3-9 and a standard mix with pls 3.5-9.3. The gel was stained by the silver method for PhastGel IEF media. The isoelectric point was determined to be approximately 3.9.

Example 4 N-Terminal Sequencing

A 100 μl aliquot of purified Penicillium brasilianum beta-glucosidase (Example 3) was added to 100 μl of SDS-PAGE sample buffer (4 ml of 0.5 M TRIS-HCl pH 6.8, 20 ml of 10% SDS, 20 ml of glycerol (87%), 56 ml of Milli Q filtered H₂O, and 15 grains of bromphenol blue) in an Eppendorf tube and heated to 95° C. for 4 minutes. Following heating four 20 μl aliquots of the diluted sample were applied separately to a precast 4-20% SDS polyacrylamide gel (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif., USA). In addition to the four lanes containing the sample, a Mark 12 protein standard mixture.

The gel was run in an Xcell SureLock™ gel apparatus for 90 minutes with initial power settings of 40 mA at maximum 135 V. Following electrophoresis the gel was incubated for 5 minutes in a blotting solution consisting of 10 mM CAPS pH 11 containing 6% methanol. A ProBlott membrane (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif., USA) was wetted for 1 minute in pure methanol before being placed in the blotting solution for 5 minutes in order to saturate the membrane with 10 mM CAPS pH 11 containing 6% methanol.

Electroblotting was carried out in a Semi Dry Blotter II apparatus (KemEnTec, Copenhagen, Denmark) as follows. Six pieces of Whatman no. 1 paper wetted in the blotting solution were placed on the positive electrode of the blotting apparatus followed by the ProBlott membrane, the polyacrylamide gel, and six pieces of Whatman no. 1 paper wetted in blotting solution. The blotting apparatus was assembled thereby putting the negative electrode in contact with the upper stack of Whatman no. 1 paper. A weight of 11.3 kg was placed on top of the blotting apparatus. The electroblotting was performed at a current of 175 mA for 180 minutes.

Following the electroblotting the ProBlott membrane was stained for 1 minute in 0.1% (w/v) Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 dissolved in 60% methanol, 1% acetic acid, 39% H₂O. Destaining of the ProBlott membrane was performed in 40% aqueous methanol for 5 minutes before the membranes were rinsed in deionized water. Finally the ProBlott membrane was air-dried.

For N-terminal amino acid sequencing two pieces of the ProBlott membrane consisting of a 115 kDa band were cut out and placed in the blotting cartridge of an Applied Biosystems Procise Protein Sequencer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif., USA). The N-terminal sequencing was carried out using the method run file for PVDF membrane samples (Pulsed liquid PVDF) according to the manufacturer's instructions.

The N-terminal amino acid sequence was deduced from the resulting chromatograms by comparing the retention time of the peaks in the chromatograms to the retention times of the PTH-amino-acids in the standard chromatogram.

The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the purified Penicillium brasilianum beta-glucosidase was determined directly using a Procise 494 HT Sequencing System (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif., USA). The N-terminal sequence was determined to be Ala-Ile-Glu-Ser-Phe-Ser-Glu-Pro-Phe-Tyr-Pro-Ser-X-X-Met-Asn (amino acids 37 to 52 of SEQ ID NO: 2). X defines an undetermined amino acid residue.

Example 5 PCR Amplifications

Based on the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the purified Penicillium brasilianum beta-glucosidase (Example 4), a forward primer was designed as shown below using the CODEHOP strategy (Rose et al., 1998, Nucleic Acids Res. 26: 1628-35). From database information on other beta-glucosidases, a reverse primer was designed as shown below using the CODEHOP strategy.

Forward Primer: 5′-GCGCTATCGAGTCTTTCTCTGARCCNTTYTA-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 3) Reverse Primer: 5′-GTCGGTCATGACGAAGCCNKGRAANCC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 4)

where R=A or G, Y=C or T, K=G or T and N=A, C, G or T

Amplification reactions (30 μl) were prepared using approximately 1 μg of Penicillium brasilianum genomic DNA as template. In addition, each reaction contained the following components: 30 pmol of the forward primer, 30 pmol of the reverse primer, 200 μM each of dATP, dCTP, dGTP, and dTTP, 1× AmpliTaq polymerase buffer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif., USA), and 0.5 unit of AmpliTaq polymerase (5.0 U/μl, Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif., USA). The reactions were incubated in a Robocycler (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif., USA) programmed for 1 cycle at 96° C. for 3 minutes and at 72° C. for 3 minutes; 34 cycles each at 95° C. for 0.5 minute, 56° C. for 0.5 minutes, and 72° C. for 1.5 minutes; 1 cycle at 72° C. for 7 minutes; and a soak cycle at 6° C. Taq polymerase was added at 72° C. in the first cycle.

PCR reaction products were separated on a 2% agarose gel (Amresco, Solon, Ohio, USA) using TAE buffer. A band of approximately 840 bp was excised from the gel and purified using a MiniElute™ Gel Extraction Kit (QIAGEN Inc., Valencia, Calif., USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions. The purified PCR product was subsequently cloned into a pCR2.1 TOPO vector (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif., USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions to produce a vector designated pCR2.1 GH3A (FIG. 2) and analyzed by DNA sequencing to confirm its identity as a Family 3 glycosyl hydrolase.

Example 6 Screening of Genomic Library

Colony lifts were performed (Maniatis et al., 1982, Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) and the DNA was cross-linked onto Hybond N+ membranes (Amersham, Arlington Heights, Ill.) for 2 hours at 80° C. The membranes from the colony lifts were pre-wetted using 0.2×SSC (0.03 M NaCl, 0.003 M sodium citrate), 0.2% SDS. The pre-wetted filters were placed in a beaker with 7.5 ml of hybridization solution (6×SSPE [0.9 M NaCl, 0.06 M NaH₂PO₄, and 6 mM EDTA], 7% SDS) per filter at 68° C. in a shaking water bath for 0.5 hour. The subcloned product of the PCR amplification described in Example 5 was amplified from pCR2.1 GH3A by PCR amplification using primers homologous to the vector, as shown below.

5′-CTTGGTACCGAGCTCGGATCCACTA-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 5) 5′-ATAGGGCGAATTGGGCCCTCTAGAT-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 6)

Amplification reactions (30 μl) were prepared using approximately 50 ng of pCR2.1 GH3A as template. In addition, each reaction contained the following components: Fifty picomoles of each of the primers, 1× Taq buffer (New England Biolabs, Beverly, Mass.), 15 pmol each of dATP, dTTP, dGTP, and dCTP, and 0.5 units of Taq DNA polymerase (New England Biolabs, Beverly, Mass., USA). The reactions were incubated in a Robocycler programmed for 1 cycle at 94° C. for 1 minute; and 20 cycles each at 94° C. for 30 seconds, 55° C. for 60 seconds, and 72° C. for 1 minute. The heat block then went to a 4° C. soak cycle. The reaction products were isolated on a 2.0% agarose gel using TAE buffer, and a 1 kb product band was excised from the gel and purified using a QIAquick Gel Extraction Kit (QIAGEN Inc., Valencia, Calif., USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Approximately 40 ng was random-primer labeled using a Stratagene Prime-It II Kit (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif., USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions. The radiolabeled gene fragment was separated from unincorporated nucleotide using a MinElute PCR Purification Kit (QIAGEN Inc., Valencia, Calif., USA).

The radioactive probe was denatured by adding 5.0 M NaOH to a final concentration of 0.5 M, and added to the hybridization solution at an activity of approximately 0.5×10⁶ cpm per ml of hybridization solution. The mixture was incubated for 10 hours at 68° C. in a shaking water bath. Following incubation, the membranes were washed three times in 0.2×SSC, 0.2% SDS at 68° C. The membranes were then dried on blotting paper for 15 minutes, wrapped in SaranWrap™, and exposed to X-ray film overnight at −80° C. with intensifying screens (Kodak, Rochester, N.Y., USA).

Colonies producing hybridization signals with the probe were inoculated into 1 ml of LB medium supplemented with 100 μg of ampicillin per ml and cultivated overnight at 37° C. Dilutions of each solution were made and 100 μl were plated onto LB agar plates supplemented with 100 μg of ampicillin per ml. The dilution for each positive that produced about 40 colonies per plate was chosen for secondary lifts. The lifts were prepared, hybridized, and probed as above. Two colonies from each positive plate were inoculated into 3 ml of LB medium supplemented with 100 μg of ampicillin per ml and cultivated overnight at 37° C.

Miniprep DNA was prepared from each colony using a Bio Robot 9600 (QIAGEN Inc, Valencia, Calif., USA) according to the manufacturer's protocol. The size of each insert was determined by Eco RI digestion and agarose gel electrophoresis. Two clones designated AB1 and AB2 each contained an approximately 4.5 kb insert. Sequencing revealed that the clones were identical, and they were hereafter referred to as pKKAB (FIG. 3).

Example 7 Characterization of the Penicillium brasilianum Genomic Sequence Encoding Beta-Glucosidase

DNA sequencing of the Penicillium brasilianum beta-glucosidase gene from pKKAB was performed with an Applied Biosystems Model 3700 Automated DNA Sequencer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif., USA) using the primer walking technique with dye-terminator chemistry (Giesecke et al., 1992, J. Virol. Methods 38: 47-60).

The genomic coding sequence (SEQ ID NO: 1) and deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 2) are shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The genomic coding sequence of 2751 bp (including stop codon) encodes a polypeptide of 878 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 96,725 Da, interrupted by 2 introns of 57 bp (85-141 bp) and 57 bp (312-368 bp). The % G+C content of the gene is 51.9% and of the mature protein coding region (nucleotides 171 to 2753 of SEQ ID NO: 1) is 52%. Using the SignalP software program (Nielsen et al., 1997, Protein Engineering 10:1-6), a signal peptide of 19 residues was predicted. Based on the N-terminal sequence of the beta-glucosidase, residues 20 through 36 appear to constitute a propeptide region that is proteolytically cleaved during maturation. The predicted mature protein contains 842 amino acids.

A search for similar sequences in public databases was carried out with the FASTA program package, version 3.4 (Pearson and D. J. Lipman, 1988, PNAS 85:2444, and Pearson, 1990, Methods in Enzymology 183:63) using default parameters. The pairwise alignments from the package's Smith-Waterman algorithm (Waterman et al., 1976, Adv. Math. 20: 367) were used for determination of percent identity. Default parameters included a gap open penalty of −12, a gap extension penalty of −2, and the BLOSUM50 comparison matrix. The alignments showed that the deduced amino acid sequence of the Penicillium brasilianum gene encoding a GH3A polypeptide having beta-glucosidase activity shared 63.8% identity (including gaps) to the deduced amino acid sequence of a hypothetical protein from Neurospora crassa (accession number Q7RWP2) and 61.8% identity to a characterized glycosyl hydrolase Family 3 beta-glucosidase from Aspergillus cellulolyticus (accession number ABB07868).

E. coli TOP10 cells (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif., USA) containing plasmid pKKAB were deposited with the Agricultural Research Service Patent Culture Collection, Northern Regional Research Center, 1815 University Street, Peoria, Ill., 61604, as NRRL B-30860, with a deposit date of Jul. 8, 2005.

Example 8 Construction of an Aspergillus oryzae Beta-Glucosidase Expression Plasmid

The Aspergillus expression plasmid pJaL721 (WO 03/008575) consists of an expression cassette based on the Aspergillus niger neutral amylase II promoter fused to the Aspergillus nidulans triose phosphate isomerase non-translated leader sequence (NA2/tpi) and the Aspergillus niger amyloglucosidase terminator (Tamg). Also present on the plasmid is the selective marker amdS from Aspergillus nidulans enabling growth on acetamide as sole nitrogen source and the URA3 marker from Saccharomyces cerevisiae enabling growth of the pyrF defective Escherichia coli strain DB6507 (ATCC 35673). Transformation into E. coli DB6507 was performed using the Saccharomyces cerevisiae URA3 gene as selective marker as described below.

E. coli DB6507 was made competent by the method of Mandel and Higa, 1970, J. Mol. Biol. 45: 154. Transformants were selected on solid M9 medium (J. Sambrook, E. F. Fritsch, and T. Maniatis, 1989, Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, 2d edition, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) supplemented per liter with 1 g of casamino acids, 500 μg of thiamine, and 10 mg of kanamycin.

The beta-glucosidase gene was cloned into pJaL721 as described below. The beta-glucosidase gene from Penicillium brasilianum was amplified by PCR using the following two oligonucleotide primers:

Forward PCR: (SEQ ID NO: 7) 5′-AATTTGATCACACCATGCAGGGTTCTACAATCTTTCTGCC-3′ Reverse PCR: (SEQ ID NO: 8) 5′-TTAACTCGAGTTACTCCAATTGTGAGCTCAGCGG-3′

To facilitate cloning a restriction enzyme site was inserted into the 5′ end of each primer where the forward primer contained a Bcl I site and the reverse primer contained an Xho I site.

The AB clone (Example 6) was used as template in the PCR reaction. The reaction was performed in a volume of 50 μl containing 1.0 unit of Phusion (Finnzymes Oy, Espoo, Finland), 1× Phusion buffer HF (Finnzymes Oy, Espoo, Finland), 25 ng of clone AB, 250 μM of each dNTP, and 50 pmol of each of the two primers described above. The amplification was carried out in a PTC-220 DNA Engine Dyad Peltier Thermal Cycler (MJ Research, Inc., Waltham, Mass., USA) programmed for 1 cycle at 95° C. for 5 minutes; 24 cycles each at 94° C. for 0.5 minute, 58° C. for 0.5 minute, and 68° C. for 4.0 minutes; and 1 cycle at 68° C. for 15 minutes. The hot start PCR technique (Chou et al., 1992, Nucleic Acids Res. 20: 1717) was used and the Phusion polymerase was added after 1 minute of the first cycle.

The PCR reaction produced a single DNA fragment of approximately 2700 bp in length. The fragment was digested with Bcl I and Xho I and isolated by agarose gel electrophoresis, purified, and cloned into pJaL721 digested with Bam HI and Xho I, resulting in a plasmid designated pKBK01 (FIG. 4). The sequence of the beta-glucosidase gene in pKBK01 was verified by DNA sequencing.

Example 9 Expression of the Penicillium brasilianum Beta-Glucosidase in Aspergillus oryzae

Aspergillus oryzae BECh2 (WO 00/30322) was transformed with 5 μg of pKBK01 as described by Christensen et al., 1988, Biotechnology 6: 1419-1422.

Transformants were cultivated in 50 ml tubes for 4 days at 30° C. in 10 ml of YPM medium. The whole broths were centrifuged at 12,100×g and the supernatants removed. The supernatants were analyzed by SDS-PAGE using a Criterion XT Precast Gel, 10% Bis-Tris gel in a XT MES buffer (BioRad Laboratories, Hercules, Calif., USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions. A 10 μl volume of supernatant was mixed with 9 μl of sample buffer (0.125 M Tris-HCl pH 6.8, 20% glycerol, and 4.6% SDS) and 1 μl of 1 M dithiothreitol, and heated to 96° C. for 5 minutes. In 8 out of 28 supernatants, one band of approximately 115 kDa was visible in the range of the standards 35 kDa to 150 kDa by SDS-PAGE. The supernatants resulting in a band at approximately 115 kDa also contained beta-glucosidase activity, assayed as described in Example 3. The higher the intensity of the band, the higher beta-glucosidase activity measured in the same supernatant.

One transformant was designated Aspergillus oryzae KBK01.

Example 10 Production and Purification of Recombinant Penicillium brasilianum Beta-Glucosidase

Aspergillus oryzae transformant KBK01 was grown in a bioreactor for 24 hours in a medium composed per liter of 60 g of sucrose, 10 g of MgSO₄.H₂0, 10 g of KH₂PO₄, 15 g of K₂SO₄, 20 g of citric acid, 50 g of yeast extract, 0.5 ml of trace metals, and 1 ml of pluronic acid. The trace metals was composed per liter of 14.28 g of ZnSO₄.7H₂O, 2.50 g of CuSO₄.5H₂O, 2.5 g of NiCl₂.6H₂O, 13.8 g of FeSO₄.7H₂O, 8.5 g of MnSO₄.H₂O, and 3.0 g of citric acid. After 1 day, a maltose solution was fed into the bioreactor composed per liter of 350 g of 75% maltose solution, 5 g of citric acid, 10 g of yeast extract, 0.5 ml of trace metals, and 5 ml of pluronic acid. After 5 days the cultivation was stopped.

The biomass was removed from 2.5 liters of fermentation broth by centrifugation and filtration. The resulting supernatant was brought to 5 liters with deionized water and ultrafiltrated on a Filtron with an OS10C72 10 kDa membrane (Filtron, USA). The resulting volume of 1.2 liters was adjusted to pH 8.5.

Beta-glucosidase activity was measured as described in Example 3. Protein concentration was determined as described in Example 3. SDS-PAGE analysis was performed as described in Example 3. Elution of the beta-glucosidase was monitored at 280 nm.

The beta-glucosidase solution was loaded onto a Q-Sepharose Fast Flow column (Amersham Biosciences, Uppsala, Sweden) pre-equilibrated with 25 mM Tris pH 8.5. The beta-glucosidase was eluted with a 0 to 1 M NaCl gradient (5 column volumes) in 25 mM Tris pH 8.5. Fractions containing the beta-glucosidase were pooled in a volume of 105 ml.

A portion of the pool (40 ml) from the Q-Sepharose step was further purified on a Sephacryl S-200 column pre-equilibrated in 0.1 M sodium acetate pH 6.0. The beta-glucosidase was eluted with the same buffer in a volume of 68 ml.

The protein content was determined from the absorbance at 280 nm and the extinction coefficient calculated from the primary structure of the beta-glucosidase.

The purification was followed by SDS-PAGE. The samples were boiled for 2 minutes with an equal volume of 2× sample buffer and ⅕ volume of 1% PMSF and loaded onto a 4-20% Tris-glycine gel from Novex. The gel was stained with GelCode Blue Stain Reagent and destained with water. SDS-PAGE revealed one band of approximately 115 kDa.

Example 11 Characterization of Purified Recombinant Penicillium brasilianum Beta-Glucosidase

The purified recombinant Penicillium brasilianum beta-glucosidase described in Example 10 was characterized with regard to pH optimum, temperature optimum, temperature stability, and substrate specificity.

pH Optimum and Temperature Optimum.

The beta-glucosidase activity was measured at temperatures from 20° C. to 90° C. and at pH values of 3.0 to 8.0. The purified beta-glucosidase was diluted in MilliQ water to ensure that the 4-nitrophenol developed in the assay was within the standard curve. The substrate was 1 mM 4-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside in 50 mM sodium citrate adjusted to pH 3.18, 4.16, 4.86, 6.17 and in 50 mM sodium carbonate adjusted to pH 7.07 and 8.13. The activity was measured for 10 minutes and the reaction was terminated with 0.5 M glycine/NaOH pH 10 with 2 mM EDTA.

FIG. 5 shows the relative activity of the Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 beta-glucosidase at different pH values as a function of temperature.

FIG. 6 shows the relative activity of the Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 beta-glucosidase at different temperatures as a function of pH.

Temperature Stability for Novozym 188 and the Penicillium brasilianum Strain IBT 20888 Beta-Glucosidase.

The stability of the Penicillium brasilianum beta-glucosidase and Novozym 188 (Novozymes A/S, Bagsværd, Denmark) were tested at temperatures from 20° C. to 67.5° C. and at pH values of 3 to 8 over a period of 24 hours. The enzyme preparations were diluted 2000-fold in the incubation buffer. Incubation buffers of pH 3 to pH 6 contained 10 mM sodium citrate adjusted to the desired pH and incubation buffers of pH 7 and pH 8 contained 10 mM sodium carbonate adjusted to the desired pH. The residual activity was measured at room temperature during a period of 10 minutes. The substrate was 1 mM 4-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside in 50 mM sodium citrate adjusted to pH 4.80, and the reaction was terminated with 0.5 M glycine/NaOH pH 10 containing 2 mM EDTA.

FIG. 7 shows the residual activity of Novozym 188 after 24 hours of incubation at different temperature and pH (n=2).

FIG. 8 shows the residual activity of the Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 beta-glucosidase after 24 hours of incubation at different temperature and pH (n=3)

The beta-glucosidase from Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 was stable at pH 4 to pH 6 up to 60° C. for a period of 24 hours. Novozym 188 was stable at pH 4 and pH 5 up to 50° C. for a period of 24 hours and at pH 6 up to 40° C. for a period of 24 hours.

Kinetic Parameters for the Penicillium brasilianum Strain IBT 20888 Beta-Glucosidase.

Substrate 4-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside. Kinetic parameters were measured using 4-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside at concentrations between 0.07 and 2 mM in 50 mM sodium citrate pH 4.80. The activity was measured for 2 minutes at room temperature and the reaction was terminated with 0.5 M glycine/NaOH pH 10 with 2 mM EDTA, and measured as described in Example 3.

The Michaelis-Menten constant k_(m) and the maximum reaction rate were determined from four independent dilutions of the enzyme. The measurements showing substrate inhibition were omitted in the determination of the kinetic parameters. The parameters were determined from a Lineweaver-Burk plot to be k_(m)=0.077±0.021 mM and V_(max)=78.2±7.2 U/mg enzyme. Using a Hanes plot to determine the parameters resulted in a deviation of the parameters of less than one percent.

FIG. 9 shows the initial reaction rate at different 4-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranose concentrations for the Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 beta-glucosidase.

Substrate cellobiose. Kinetic parameters were measured using cellobiose at concentrations between 0.08 and 10 mM in 50 mM sodium acetate pH 4.80. The activity was measured for 5 minutes at room temperature and the reaction was terminated with 0.5 M glycine/NaOH pH 10 with 2 mM EDTA, and then heated to 65° C. for 10 minutes. The pH was then adjusted to pH 7.1 with 1 M HCl and measured with Ecoline S+Glucose (DiaSys Diagnostics Systems GmbH, Holzheim, Germany). The Michaelis-Menten parameters were determined with a non-linear curve fitter using the Marquardt-Levenberg algorithm (SigmaPlot 9.01, Systat Software, Inc.).

The Michaelis-Menten constant k_(m) and the maximum reaction rate were determined for the hydrolysis of cellobiose to be 1.58 mM and 28 U/mg, respectively. One unit is defined as the amount of enzyme hydrolyzing 1 μmole of cellobiose per minute.

FIG. 10 shows the initial reaction rate at different cellobiose concentrations for the Penicillium brasilianum strain IBT 20888 beta-glucosidase.

Deposit of Biological Material

The following biological material has been deposited under the terms of the Budapest Treaty with the Agricultural Research Service Patent Culture Collection, Northern Regional Research Center, 1815 University Street, Peoria, Ill., 61604, and given the following accession number:

Deposit Accession Number Date of Deposit E. coli TOP10 pKKAB NRRL B-30860 Jul. 8, 2005

The strain has been deposited under conditions that assure that access to the culture will be available during the pendency of this patent application to one determined by the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks to be entitled thereto under 37 C.F.R. §1.14 and 35 U.S.C. §122. The deposit represents a substantially pure culture of the deposited strain. The deposit is available as required by foreign patent laws in countries wherein counterparts of the subject application, or its progeny are filed. However, it should be understood that the availability of a deposit does not constitute a license to practice the subject invention in derogation of patent rights granted by governmental action.

The invention described and claimed herein is not to be limited in scope by the specific aspects herein disclosed, since these aspects are intended as illustrations of several aspects of the invention. Any equivalent aspects are intended to be within the scope of this invention. Indeed, various modifications of the invention in addition to those shown and described herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. Such modifications are also intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. In the case of conflict, the present disclosure including definitions will control.

Various references are cited herein, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference in their entireties. 

1. A nucleic acid construct comprising a gene encoding a protein operably linked to one or both of a first nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide consisting of nucleotides 171 to 2753 of SEQ ID NO: 1 and a second nucleotide sequence encoding a propeptide consisting of nucleotides 171 to 2753 of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein the gene is foreign to the first and second nucleotide sequences encoding the signal peptide and propeptide.
 2. A recombinant expression vector comprising the nucleic acid construct of claim
 1. 3. A recombinant host cell comprising the nucleic acid construct of claim
 2. 4. A method for producing a protein comprising: (a) cultivating the recombinant host cell of claim 3 under conditions conducive for production of the protein; and (b) recovering the protein. 